


Digimon Adventure Episode 1: The Destined Jedi

by MadDogLucario96



Series: The Destined Jedi Series [1]
Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure
Genre: AU, Fixing some stuff I didn't like, Gen, Implied Taiora, Lightsabers, Loads of Action, Partner Digimon make sporadic appearances, Some bad language, The Digidestined are Jedi, force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 71,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25264843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadDogLucario96/pseuds/MadDogLucario96
Summary: Jedi AU remake of Adventure 1. When seven kids are dragged into a completely different world, they learn that only they are the ones who can save not only this world but their own as well. With strange abilities and laser swords at their disposal, can these children truly save the world from destruction? Find out. Rated T for violence and coarse language.Cross-posted on FFN
Series: The Destined Jedi Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830397
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	1. And So It Begins Part 1

Digimon Adventure

Episode I

The Destined Jedi

The real world has been thrown into chaos. Reports of strange weather patterns occurring all over the globe have run rampant. No one knows what to make of it. Another world, a digital world, has also been thrown into chaos with a hidden evil slowly making its presence felt. 

There exists a prophecy that foretells of eight chosen ones known as the Destined Jedi that will rise to destroy evil and save the universe from destruction. Only they can bring peace. 

In a desperate attempt to restore peace, Homeostasis has instructed the being known as Gennai to find the eight Destined Jedi and bring them to the digital world….

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

August 1, 1999  
Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan

“You sure you’re ok?” Tai Kamiya asked his little sister Kari as he placed a wet washcloth over her forehead. He tucked the covers in just a little tighter so that she was comfortable. The poor girl was shivering with fever under the covers but gave him the best smile she could. 

“Yeah,” she said in a shaky voice. “I’m sorry I can’t go to camp with you.” 

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” he reassured, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Just get well while I’m gone.” 

The eleven-year-old boy frowned as he stuffed away more clothes into his duffle bag. His chocolate brown eyes narrowed as he thought of the events the day before. Maybe that was when she started showing signs of being ill but they were not at all obvious to him, which made Tai feel worse about the situation then he already did. If he had caught them early on, maybe he could have been proactive about the situation and made sure she got some rest. Then maybe she would have been able to go on the camping trip with him. 

The two of them were watching news reports about the abnormal weather conditions around the world that day as well. Even though it was the middle of summer, the United States and Canada were blanketed in snow, the Middle East was wet with torrential downpours, and the jungles and wetlands of Southeast Asia were dry as a desert. It may have seemed unusual to him but what was even stranger was when he tried to reach for his soda can. He was so comfortable in his position on the couch that he didn’t want to lean over and grab it so he was about to ask Kari to grab it for him until the can mysteriously floated over to his outstretched hand. It was almost like magic. He freaked out the second he realized what had happened, thinking he was losing his mind for believing that, but he had no explanation for it. 

“Tai?” Kari squeaked out, still shivering despite being tucked in nice and tight. 

“Yeah, what is it?” he asked softly, getting to the bed in less than a second. He ran his hand through her hair to try and put her at ease. 

“Mommy’s close,” she said. 

“Tai, come on! Let’s get going or you’re going to be late! Don’t forget that we have to get Sora too,” their mother’s voice came, peering into the room. “Say goodbye to your sister.” 

Tai looked at the door in amazement. How did Kari know that their mother would be coming in at that moment? In his shock, he stayed put rather than rushing to get his belongings together. 

“How did you do that?” he demanded. 

Kari shrugged. “I don’t know,” she replied. “Something just told me that she was.” 

“Tai!” Mrs. Kamiya yelled from the foyer of the apartment. 

Tai decided to let it be for the time being. He’d have to ask Kari about how she knew when he got back. Planting a quick kiss to her forehead, along with a “love you”, he gathered his things before his mother could get even angrier. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Sora, are you ready yet?” 

An auburn-haired girl rolled her crimson red eyes as she zipped up her bag. Her mother had been calling her for the last two minutes and it was starting to wear down on her nerves. It wasn’t like her mother was going to accompany her to the bus anyway; she was busy with her flower-arranging class and Sora’s father was in Kyoto working as a college professor so he couldn’t take her. 

Sora didn’t mind, of course; she had learned to fend for herself quite well over her eleven years of life due to her mother always being busy and her father being away. It was what earned her the reputation around school for being a tough-as-nails girl who also had a caring and warm personality. 

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Sora shouted back. Throwing her duffle bag over her shoulder and her favorite blue hat on her head, she walked out of her room and into the foyer of her family’s apartment. 

“I’m heading out,” she called. “See you when I get back.” 

Without even waiting for a reply, Sora closed the door behind her. Looking down at the streets of Odaiba below, something told her that Tai was nearby. She couldn’t explain it but she always seemed to know whenever he was close just by this feeling she would get. The two had been best friends their entire lives and they played on the same soccer team together, despite Sora being the only girl on the team. 

Sure enough, she spotted Mrs. Kamiya’s car in the parking lot and began to walk towards the elevator. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Matt Ishida watched the scenery go by without any real interest in it as the bus made its way through the countryside, leaving the urban sprawl of Tokyo behind. Trees, mountains, and other cars breezed by as he watched with an indifferent expression. The handsome blonde-haired boy drifted off into his own world while his Nirvana tape blared in his ears. 

“Hey, Matt,” a smaller blonde-haired boy poked him in his side to get his attention. 

Matt stopped the tape and pulled the headphones down to around his neck so that he could give the boy his full attention. 

“What do you want, TK?” he asked. 

“I’m bored,” the younger boy whined. “Show me that trick that you can do.” 

Matt anxiously looked around to make sure that no one would be peaking over to watch what he was about to do. It had not been long since he had discovered this ability and no one other than his younger brother knew about it. A couple of rows back, girls were singing the Backstreet Boys’ new single at an extremely loud volume, hence why he had worn his headphones in the first place, and others were too busy looking out the windows. 

“Ok,” he whispered. “But don’t tell anyone else about it, ok?” 

TK quickly nodded his head, bouncing in excitement at what he was about to see. “Ok,” he smiled. 

Matt gave a small smile of his own. “Good. Hold out your hand.” 

TK followed his brother’s instructions and put his hand out. 

Taking a coin out of his wallet, Matt set it down on his knee. He then closed his eyes and concentrated on the coin, willing it to go to TK’s outstretched hand. As his mind relaxed, everything around him faded away and the coin became his whole world. 

TK’s eyes widened in awe as he saw the coin begin to rise from his brother’s knee and come down towards his hand. Once it made contact, a thrill of excitement went through the young boy’s body. 

“How do you do that?” he demanded, a wide smile never leaving his face. “I want to learn how to do it.” 

The older brother shrugged in response. “I’m not sure. I just woke up one day and I was able to do it all of a sudden.” 

“Hm,” TK’s face turned into one of general thought. “Ok. Can you take me to see Phantom Menace after camp?” 

Matt could not help but chuckle. “Again?” he asked. “TK, you have seen it four times already. Don’t you think that’s enough?” 

“Of course not,” TK indignantly replied.

“Plus it may not even still be playing when we get back,” continued his brother. “We can wait for it to come out on video to watch it again.” 

TK’s lower lip trembled, signaling he was about to start crying if Matt didn’t cave in. The older brother did not want to have to deal with that right now. 

With a sigh, Matt conceded. “Alright, fine. When we get back from camp, I’ll take you to see it if it’s still playing.” 

The pouty face quickly turned to joy as TK wrapped his arms around his brother’s neck. Matt’s eyes widened in shock and reluctantly patted TK on the back. 

“Thank you, Matt!” 

“Heh. You bet, little dude,” he chuckled nervously. 

It had been four years since their parents had divorced and it never seemed to get any easier for Matt. He was only seven when he went to live with his father in Odaiba while four-year-old TK went to live with their mom in Sangenjaya. The little boy was eight now but did not show any signs of being affected by the divorce and Matt wanted things to stay that way. 

Last week when TK came to visit him in Odaiba, as a part of their parents’ visitation schedule, his eyes flashed across the calendar, which had the words ‘school camping trip’ in big letters and was circled. Immediately, he declared that he wanted to go too. Matt and their father were very apprehensive about the situation, especially Mr. Ishida because it meant he would have to call his ex and convince her to let him go. It wasn’t pleasant but their mom gave her consent, realizing it would give the boys a chance to spend some time together. After pulling some strings with the main organizer who was also Matt’s teacher, Mr. Fujiyama, TK got permission to go on the trip. 

Matt then pulled his headphones back onto his head to continue playing his tape, not wanting to dwell on the unpleasant thoughts that were running through his head. 

XXXXXXXXXXX

A couple of hours later, the bus finally arrived at the camping grounds. Mr. Fujiyama had them all organized into groups with leaders being signified by the wristbands that they wore. Tai saw that he and Sora were assigned to the group headed by sixth-grader Joe Kido. The group also included the Takaishida brothers, as Tai liked to call them due to Matt’s last name being Ishida and TK’s being Takaishi, and fourth graders Izzy Izumi and Mimi Tachikawa. 

Tai knew Izzy from their school soccer club but Mimi was a bit of a mystery to him. He had seen her several times around school but did not really think much about her. Sora knew her a bit better than he did and told him that she was the high-maintenance, princess type. That information was all he needed to know. 

Izzy was a nice enough kid and Tai did like him but he never traveled without a computer or at least an electronic device on his person. He was one of those computer nerds who could tell you everything about the square of the hypotenuse and recite ‘pi’ in its entirety. 

‘Whatever that is,’ he thought to himself. ‘He probably should have gone to computer camp or something.’ 

And whoever decided that age determined leadership obviously had never met Joe Kido. One look at him and Tai instantly concluded that he would be a pushover. Limp-wristed, stiff, pale, and big round glasses, Tai knew that he was not going to be taking orders from a guy like this. It wasn’t his instinct to follow and he was not about to start now. 

After carrying their belongings off the bus, the groups were instructed to get together and start on their assigned chores for the afternoon before they had their first activity: canoe races. 

“Ok, group,” said Joe, carrying a bag that was labeled “Emergency Food” on his left shoulder. “We have a lot of things to do in order to make ourselves ready before the canoe races so let’s get cracking.” 

He handed them all slips of paper that described what tasks they were supposed to carry out and how to do them. One look at it and Tai rolled his eyes while Mimi gave a cry of displeasure. 

“I can’t do any of this,” she complained. “I didn’t even want to be here in the first place!” 

“Well too bad,” Joe grumbled with a stern expression. “We’re all a group and we need to do our part, Mimi.” 

“But carrying water? Chopping firewood?” Mimi whined even more. “That’s a bunch of work.” 

“That’s the point!” Joe’s face became beet red. 

Sora stepped in-between them to calm things down. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Take it easy,” she said before turning to the despaired girl with a warm smile. “Mimi, I have an idea. Why don’t you help me out by gathering some twigs we can use and I’ll take care of the rest. Does that sound good?” 

“Oh Sora,” Mimi exhaled an appreciative breath. “You’re a saint!” 

Sora giggled, not used to being heaped with praise from her female peers before. 

“Well come on then,” she nudged Mimi along, leaving the five boys standing alone as they walked away. 

Matt shrugged. “Guess we better get started. Come on, TK.” 

The blonde-headed brothers walked off while Joe went off to do his section of the chores, leaving Tai and Izzy as the only ones left. Izzy was typing away on his computer, obviously finding much more interest in that than doing chores, while Tai just walked away without a word. It was at that moment that Tai realized just what a beautiful day it was; too beautiful to be spent doing boring chores and laboring in the intense humidity. 

“Oh, what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day,” he hummed to himself as he strolled through the forest until he found a tree that looked high enough that no one would notice him slacking off of his chores. Like Spider Man crawling up a building, Tai scaled the tree until he reached the sturdiest branch. With his hands behind his head, he reclined back on the branch and began to doze off. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tai woke up from a sudden chill hitting his face. 

Bolting upright in a flash, he looked around to try and find what it was that had touched his face. Maybe he was imagining things. 

‘No way,’ he thought. ‘That’s impossible. It’s the end of July for crying out loud.’ 

Just as he thought that, a flash of white floated in front of his face….then another.…then another until a full-blown blizzard was in effect. The wind tossed his gravity-defying hair in all directions as he ran to find shelter from the howling wind and falling snow. 

“What is going on here?!” he demanded to no one in particular as he raised his arm to his face to try and shield it from the snowflakes smacking into his face. To help better the situation, he pulled his aviator goggles from the headband on his forehead to help keep the snow out of his eyes. 

It was not long before he found refuge in a nearby shrine. Closing the door behind him, he pushed the goggles back into their place on his headband and wiped off some of the melted snowflakes on his exposed arms and legs. Looking up from that, he quickly noticed that his group had thought of the same idea as he did because the six others too sought refuge in the shrine. 

“You too, huh?” Sora had to almost shout over the howling wind outside in order to ask him. 

“Yeah,” he nodded. “You guys ok?” 

“If it weren’t for this snow, I’d feel a heck of a lot better,” Matt grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. 

Eventually the snowstorm passed. An eerie silence fell over the shrine as no one knew what to do at that moment. Finally, Tai opened the door slightly to look out onto the landscape. The sight of snow and grey skies seemed incompatible to what the typical look of what summer should be. 

“Looks like no canoe races for us this afternoon,” Joe sighed. 

“So let’s have toboggan races instead,” Tai suggested as he ran out into the snow. 

TK soon followed with a cheerful laugh. 

“I’m gonna build the biggest snowman!” the young boy declared happily. 

“TK, be careful,” said Matt, following his brother step for step. “Slow down.” 

As soon as the cold air touched her exposed skin, Sora immediately wrapped her arms around her torso in reaction as goose bumps made their way up her arms. 

“Brrr! It’s freezing!” she shivered as she made her way outside. “And I didn’t even bring a jacket. Didn’t think I was going to need one in the first place but oh well.” 

“Man! And here I was afraid I was going to catch a summer cold,” Joe complained as he looked at the frozen landscape, pushing his glasses up his nose. “But this is even worse.” 

Shoving him aside, Mimi gaped in awe as she saw the freshly fallen snow. 

“Why didn’t I pack my fluffy pink snow boots?” she cried in excitement as she joined TK in piling up a large snowball for his snowman. 

Joe tilted his head back and let out a loud groan before joining the other kids. He didn’t want to come to camp at all this summer either but his mother insisted that he find “something fun to do” rather than just stay in cram school all summer. He had relented, thinking that something good could come out of it, but now he was wishing he hadn’t. 

Izzy groaned as his infrared Internet connection failed to connect. It had to be the snow interfering with the signal because his modem could normally find one in even the most isolated of places. The young computer expert knew more about computers than even those twice his age. Looking at his mobile phone, he was met with the same results: no signal. 

“Bummer,” he muttered. 

“Hey, what’s-your-name…Izzy. Come out here! You’ve gotta see this!” Tai’s voice called to him. 

Realizing his electronics were useless at the moment, Izzy decided that he may as well go out and see what the excitement was about. Looking up in the sky, lights danced in a display that the children had never seen before except on video. 

While the sight before them amazed everyone else, Izzy was simply perplexed. How could something like this even happen in Japan? It didn’t make any sense. 

“What is it?” he asked. 

“Maybe an aurora,” replied Sora with a far-off tone. 

“You mean the Aurora Borealis?” he replied incredulously. “The Northern Lights? That’s impossible. You see that up in Alaska but we are way too far south.” 

She scoffed. “Tell that to the snow.” 

“I think we should all probably get back inside before we come down with pneumonia,” Joe suggested, not feeling good about the situation at all. 

“And miss this?” Matt replied. “The sky is like short-circuiting right now.” 

Upon closer examination, Tai could see that something was happening behind the light display. The sound of thunder reached their ears but before they could wonder if rain was coming too to rub more salt in the wound, so to speak, Tai saw a green vortex forming behind the aurora. 

“Hey, what’s that?” he asked, not knowing what was going on at that moment. Feeling the fear rise up in his stomach, he saw something break free from the vortex and split apart into seven pieces. It could have been meteorites. That seemed like the logical explanation but the seven pieces of this “meteor” started falling towards them. 

“Incoming!” Tai cried as everyone hit the dirt (no pun intended) before the falling objects collided with the ground, sending snow two feet into the air and covering the kids in it when it came back down. 

Sora immediately stood up. “Everyone, are you alright?” she demanded, wanting to make sure that no one was hurt. 

“I’m good,” replied Tai, dusting off some snow. 

“We’re still here,” said Matt, clutching TK close to him. 

“That was scary,” Mimi almost laughed after being frightened. 

Joe had never felt so embarrassed in his life. The sound from the impact of the objects meeting the ground had frightened him so much that he felt a warmth run down his leg. He had peed his pants! Thankfully everyone else was too preoccupied with what had just happened to look at him. 

“What was it?” he said, trying to deflect some of his embarrassment. 

“Meteors?” Izzy suggested as the holes in the ground began to glow. 

Seven long metal objects, at least nine to ten inches long, floated out of the ground. The glowing effect ended when the children grabbed one in their hands. Once their hands grasped the objects, another glowing sensation made its presence known: this time on their arms. 

Tai looked down to see a symbol that looked like a sun had appeared on his arm. 

“What are these?” he asked the obvious question, twirling the metal object in his hand to inspect it closely. It had the resemblance of a sword but there was no blade. Instead there were just buttons on it and a metal ring at the bottom, presumably to attach itself to their waists. 

Joe saw the symbol on his arm, a crucifix with arrows pointed out of each corner, and instantly groaned. “My folks are gonna kill me when they find out I got a tattoo,” he complained. 

“I’m not even sure they are tattoos,” replied Sora, who was inspecting her symbol: a heart. 

“Then what are they?” 

“I’m not so concerned about what these symbols are,” said Izzy, inspecting the “sword” in his hand. “I’m more concerned about what the metal things are.” 

Before anyone else could say anything, an enormous wave of water jetted up to the sky. As if a magnetic force was acting on them, the kids were sucked into the wave one at a time. 

“I knew I should have gone to Disney instead!” TK cried as he was pulled in.


	2. The Digital World

The Dark Castle

In a Dark Corner of the Digital World

In the dark dungeon of a castle, where no light could come through even though there was no light outside to be found outside, a figure with pale skin and blonde hair sat in a meditative position. A red mask stretched across his eyes and a black cloak surrounded his body. 

Suddenly, the figure’s eyes snapped open. He had felt a great disturbance in the Force. His mouth opened to reveal two sets of fangs on both the bottom and top of his mouth as he spoke. 

“They’re here,” he hissed, his voice barely above a whisper. “They’ve come.” 

“My lord,” a new voice cried as the sound of wings flapping could be heard entering the room. “Just as you have feared, the Destined Jedi have appeared.” 

The vampire narrowed his gaze. “I know they have, DemiDevimon,” he hissed once again. “I felt it. This turn of events is unfortunate. We must accelerate our plans. Begin deploying the Dark Gears. We will find the Destined Jedi and kill them before they can be trained.” 

“Yes, my lord,” said the diminutive bat before flying out of the room. “Right away.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jungle

File Island, Digital World

“Tai, you ok?” 

Tai’s eyes fluttered as he began to open them. Though he had hit the ground rather hard, his head did not hurt like he thought it would. It was certainly odd to say the least but he was just glad to be ok. 

“Yeah, I’m ok, Mom,” he muttered, thinking that it was just a dream…until he saw Izzy’s face staring down at him. “Izzy?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” the younger boy nodded. “Are you ok?” 

“I’m fine,” Tai nodded as he began to sit up, rubbing the back of his head. “Where’s everybody else?” 

“Not sure,” replied Izzy. “Maybe all scattered around. We’ll find them.” 

After getting his bearings together, Tai finally got a chance to check out their surroundings. They certainly were not at the site of the shrine anymore; rather they were in a dense forest, possibly a jungle, with no snow in sight. The trees rose high above their heads, almost to the sky, and the underbrush was so thick that it was almost impossible to see what lay behind it. 

“Where are we?” he asked, looking around. “Something tells me that we are not in Kansas anymore, Toto.” 

“It would appear that we are in a jungle of some kind. I don’t remember anything like this in the camp brochure,” replied Izzy. “The vegetation is lush but the soil appears rather common.” 

“That’s not what I meant, brainiac,” Tai snapped. “I mean where are we as in what place we are in.” 

“You have a fair point,” Izzy conceded. “I’m not entirely sure about that.” 

“Guess I’ll just have to take a look for myself.” 

Spotting a tall tree, Tai made his way over to it and began to climb up until he reached a branch that hung high above the thick jungle. He grabbed his mini telescope out of his pocket and began looking for any sights that looked familiar. 

“Hm. Let’s see now,” he muttered in concentration as he turned his telescope to the left. “The ocean? That can’t be. Our campsite was nowhere near the ocean.” Turning his telescope to the right, he saw a range of mountains a fair enough distance away from them. “I don’t remember those mountains either. Dunno if a compass is going to help much here.” 

“Hey, Tai,” Izzy called from down below. “What do you see?” 

“Nothing that I recognize,” replied Tai. “We are definitely not in Kansas anymore, Izzy.” 

“Enough with the Wizard of Oz jokes! Do you see anybody else?” 

“Give me a second.”

As Tai went to look, something flew into his line of sight. Taking a closer look, he saw a giant red beetle, bigger than any he had ever seen before, flying towards him with the intent to kill. 

“Uh, Izzy,” he said nervously. “I think I’m about to become bug food right now.” 

Just as he said that, the red beetle came in hot. Hugging his legs to the branch underneath him, Tai dropped his upper body back so that he was hanging upside down as the beetle tore off the top of the tree completely. His body shook from the adrenaline rush as he sat back up on the branch. 

‘Who needs a gardener with that thing?’ Tai laughed to himself as the insect came around for another run. Unsure of what to do, he decided the next best thing was just to jump but he had to be a good ten feet above the ground. He could get injured from a jump like that. 

‘Well it’s either that or become bug food,’ he thought as the beetle got closer and closer. It was not until the last possible second that Tai decided to jump. Just as the beetle took out the branch, Tai leapt five feet into the air…and kept going and going. It was starting to freak him out. 

“How did I do that?” he asked himself as he drifted to the ground before landing with a soft thud rather than a crash like he had anticipated. 

“Tai, how did you do that?” Izzy asked, moving quickly towards him. “Are you ok?” 

“Well I’ve certainly had better days than this,” replied Tai sharply. “I’m starting to scare myself a little bit. First a can drifts to my hand and all of a sudden I can jump like a kangaroo.” 

A shrill cry from above alerted the two boys to the fact that the beetle was not going away any time soon. 

“We better get out of here, stat!” Tai suggested. 

Izzy nodded in agreement as the two took off running for safety from the beetle. For someone who was not used to exercise, let alone running, he managed to keep up with Tai pretty well. Suddenly the two felt as though the world was passing by them in a burst of speed, like one of those revolving screens in the old movies. 

“How are we doing this?” Izzy cried, never realizing he had this kind of speed in him before. 

“I don’t know,” replied Tai. “But hopefully we can find somewhere to hide.” 

“Hide in a tree,” said a voice inside of Tai’s mind. “There’s a hiding tree not too far away from your position. Go to it.” 

‘Who said that?’ Tai thought to himself, wondering whether he was dreaming after all. ‘Who are you? Where are you?’ 

‘Go now!’ 

“Ok,” he said hesitantly. 

“Say something, Tai?” Izzy asked as the two slowed down from their burst of speed. The young computer expert grabbed his knees in exhaustion as it finally caught up to him. 

“Something tells me that a hiding tree is nearby, whatever that is.” Tai said as he began scouting the area for a tree that looked like a hiding tree. He had never heard of one before so he didn’t know where to begin. 

“Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast! He’s coming!” 

Tai knew that. He could hear the sound of bark being torn away and the rustling of leaves behind them. Finding a tree that looked almost transparent, Tai grabbed Izzy by the arm and led him into the tree. 

“Stay low and keep quiet,” he whispered to Izzy as the two waited things out. 

They could hear the beetle’s loud cries, sounding almost like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park, as they got closer and closer to them. Izzy cowered in fear, wondering if he would survive this moment. 

‘Why did I let my parents convince me to go to camp?’ he cursed. ‘I should have known something like this was going to happen. Why does this always happen to me?’ 

Tai on the other hand sat in a meditative position and focused on staying calm. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. Once he did, he felt everything in the jungle speak to him: the plants, living things; the entire island. It was almost like they were trying to tell him something. 

“All clear,” a familiar female voice announced from outside the tree. “You don’t have to hide anymore.” 

Tai and Izzy both stood up and hesitantly took a peek outside of the tree to see Sora standing before them, an amused look on her face. 

“Sora,” Tai smiled, breathing a sigh of relief as he saw a familiar face. 

“You can come out now,” she giggled. 

“Uh, we were just thinking up a trap we were gonna set for that big bug,” he chuckled nervously, trying to save whatever machismo that he could at the moment. “Hey, Sora. You didn’t happen to hear something, like say a voice, a little while ago, did you?” 

She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. Why?” 

“Just curious,” Tai shrugged. 

‘That was weird. Maybe I’m just hearing things.’ He quickly shook his head of the thought. ‘No, I heard it. The voice was clear as day. The forest also seemed to speak to me, as if everything here is connected to a central life force or something.’ 

“Never thought I would see the day that Tai Kamiya ran scared from something,” Sora snickered. 

“I wasn’t,” he retorted. “We were just thinking up a clever strategy. Right, Izzy?” 

“You should have seen his face, Sora,” Izzy chuckled. “He was so scared.” 

Tai’s face turned beet red as the two redheads laughed at his expense. “I was not! Now that we’ve found you, Sora, let’s try and find the others so we can figure this out.” 

Just as he said that, the sound of screaming reached their ears. It was a male voice that was screaming and the source of it sounded like it was getting closer to them. Leaves on a tree branch rustled as Joe came hurling towards them, screaming his head off like he had seen a ghost. 

“Joe?” Tai called, hoping to calm the older boy down. 

“Guys, help me!” Joe cried. “There’s this…UMFFF!” 

The three of them cringed as Joe hit a low-hanging tree branch without even seeing it and quickly collapsed to the ground. He pulled his hand away from his face only to see blood on it, which he knew came from his nose. Joe let loose an even louder scream before dropping back down to the ground. There were no signs of movement. 

“Joe?” Tai quickly rushed over to him to make sure he was ok. “Joe, you ok?” 

“Tai, is he ok?” Sora asked. 

After evaluating Joe’s condition, Tai concluded that he was alright. He had just fainted from the sight of the blood was all. Taking out a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped Joe’s nose free of the blood that oozed down his nose so that it didn’t get into his mouth. 

“Yeah he’s fine,” he replied. “He just fainted.” 

Sora shrugged. “Ok. Just leave him there then.” 

“TK, slow down!” 

Matt and TK soon emerged from the foliage and joined the group, thankfully unharmed. Matt’s eyes quickly turned to the unconscious Joe. 

“What happened to him?” he asked Tai. 

“He fainted,” was the goggle-headed boy’s reply. “So now that we are basically all here, what do we do?” 

“Hold on,” said Sora, looking around and noticing that they were missing one other person. “We’re missing someone. Where’s Mimi?” 

“Who?” 

She gave Tai an admonishing look. “That girl with the pink hat.” 

Tai’s eyes brightened in realization. “Oh, her. I don’t know where she is.” 

“Maybe she’s picking flowers,” suggested Izzy. “Or going on a nature hike.” 

Another scream reached their ears for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. 

“HELP!” 

“Mimi!” Tai cried, immediately running to the source of the scream. The others soon followed with Matt carrying Joe over his shoulder. 

Matt felt something wet make contact with his bare shoulder as he struggled to keep up with the others and carry Joe at the same time. Stopping to look, Matt noticed a wet spot at the front of Joe’s shorts and immediately knew what it was. 

“OH DEAR GOD!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, dropping Joe unceremoniously to the ground with a thud. “Ewwww!” 

“What’s the matter, Matt?” Tai asked, wondering what it was that was getting Matt so worked up. “What’s wrong?” 

“Joe peed his pants!” Matt cried, wiping his shoulder vigorously. “And it got on my shoulder too!” 

Sora had a hard time keeping her laughter down to a minimum while Tai busted a gut laughing at the blonde’s misfortune. 

“Ow. My head,” groaned Joe as he started to come to after being dropped to the ground. Rubbing the back of his head, he wondered why everyone around him was staring. “What’s going on? Why’s everyone looking at me?” he demanded. 

He then looked down to the front of his shorts and saw what they were looking at. His face exploded into a red color as he tried to cover his embarrassment. 

“Matt, I am so sorry,” he quickly apologized. “I forgot that happened.” 

“Why you…” Matt looked ready to punch Joe’s lights out until the sound of running reached their ears, accompanied by the screaming that they had grown accustomed to. Mimi soon came around the corner, screaming her head off as the red beetle from earlier followed above her. 

“Oh no,” Tai groaned once he caught sight of it. “Not again!” 

The beetle dove down for an attack but they all ducked down before it could get a piece of them. Sora ran up to Mimi to make sure that she was alright. 

“Mimi, are you ok?” 

“Oh, Sora,” Mimi breathed a sigh of relief as she clung to the older girl. “Yeah, I think so.” 

Sora smiled warmly. “Don’t worry. It’ll be alright.” 

“Ok, now that we are all back together, let’s GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE!” Joe screamed as the beetle let out a cry to let them know that it was not going away anytime soon. They all took off running into the jungle, hearing the sounds of broken bark and tree branches hitting the ground. 

‘What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?’ Tai asked himself as he struggled to come up with a plan. He had been in many tight situations in his life but none of them could have even prepared him for what he was facing now. It was hopeless. 

“My mom is going to want a total refund over this!” Joe cried as they continued running. “Why did I let her convince me to come to camp in the first place? I should have stayed at school all summer.” 

“Joe, that’s enough!” Matt growled. “Are you finished complaining yet?” 

“Look out!” TK cried as the beetle swooped down for another attack. They all hit the ground once again to take cover. 

Tai was getting tired of running and hiding. It was time for some action. 

“All right, that’s it. No more running away,” he proclaimed, his fingers taking hold of the sword hanging on his belt. 

Sora looked at him as though he was crazy. “What can we do?” she asked incredulously. 

“She’s right,” Matt nodded in agreement, holding TK close to him for protection. “There’s no way we can fight that thing and win. It’s hopeless.” 

Tai growled in defiance. “There has to be a way.” 

Hearing the sound of wings flapping caused the group to continue running deeper into the jungle. They thought there would possibly a river or even a hidden path that would provide them shelter from the beetle. 

Emerging from the trees, they found themselves staring at the edge of a cliff with no way down.

“Great,” Matt rolled his eyes. “Did anyone bring a helicopter or something?” 

Tai moved close to the edge so that he could see how far of a drop it could be. He did have his newfound jumping ability to rely on in terms of getting him down but he was not sure about the others. Seeing how far down it was, he knew that there was no way they could get there safely. 

“There’s no way down,” he reported sadly. “We’re going to have to find another way.” 

“To where?!” Sora demanded. Tai could sense that her fear was starting to get the best of her at the moment. 

A rush of wind hit Tai square in the chest as the beetle darted directly towards him, hoping to finally finish him off. For Tai, the whole moment seemed to move by in slow motion as he bent backwards until his back touched the ground before the beetle passed over him. 

Before Tai could breath a sigh of relief, he heard Sora call out to him. 

“Watch out, Tai!” 

He turned to see the beetle making its way back to him for another attack. He stood his ground this time, however. Something inside of him told him to concentrate and use the “power within him” to get rid of the bug. The sun on his right arm started to glow a bright orange as he extended out his gloved hand. 

The rest of the kids were stunned as the beetle stopped moving, almost like it was frozen. Tai kept his concentration and with one gesture of his hand, the beetle was sent flying into the trees with a resounding crash. Everyone was finally given a moment to breath, thinking that they had finally won this time. 

“Whoa, Tai,” TK cried, fascinated by what he had just seen. “How did you do that?” 

“I have no idea,” was the reply. Tai kept looking at his hand in shock, wondering just how he had managed to pull that off. ‘Just like with the can,’ he remembered. 

Before they could celebrate any more, the beetle’s cry came even louder than before as it got up from the group of trees that it had landed on. 

“Does this guy ever give up?!” Tai gritted his teeth in frustration. Simple magic tricks were not going to put this damned thing away. 

“Tai, we have to find a way out of here,” said Sora, hoping to convince him to give up the fight while they still had the chance. “Give it up.” 

The beetle chopped its pincers threateningly, ready to make them its lunch. Tai narrowed his eyebrows as he could sense exactly what it was planning to do. He knew that the only way out of this was to fight. There was no getting around it. 

He felt his fingers grasp the grip of the sword, which caused an idea to come to his mind. 

“Let’s see what these things can do,” he said, taking it off of his belt and holding it in his hand. He then ran towards the beast with a determined look on his face. 

“Tai, are you crazy?!” Sora cried after him. 

“It’s suicidal, man!” Matt called as well. 

Tai couldn’t hear them due to the amount of blood that was pumping in his ears. If he was going to go down, he was going to go down fighting. The beetle seemed to understand what he was thinking because its wings began flapping in preparation to launch an attack. Tai held the sword in both hands, trying to figure out what button on it would unleash the blade within it. He knew there had to be one. If not, he would be bug food in a second. 

“Here goes nothing,” he muttered between gritted teeth as he pressed a button in the middle with his thumb. 

A piercing ignition sounded through the air, followed by a hum. Tai’s eyes went wide as he stared at the sword, a blade of blue energy now glowing out of the top end. It instantly hit him that he knew what it was. 

“No way!” he cried, a wide smile stretching across his face. “A real life lightsaber? This is so cool!” 

A cry from the beetle unfortunately ruined the moment but Tai was not going to back down anymore now that he knew the swords were lightsabers. Taking a stance that he had seen from the movies, he prepared to attack with a look of confidence. 

“Alright, you big ugly bug,” he said while holding the blade close, the blue light illuminating the right side of his face. “Let’s dance.” 

As the beetle came in for a strike, Tai sidestepped it and swung his lightsaber for one of its limbs, managing to cut off part of its arm. It roared in pain as Tai started to get more confident in his striking abilities. He leapt up onto the creature’s back and started swinging away, causing maximum damage, so much that it fell to the ground. Tai finally plunged his lightsaber into its back once it hit the ground. 

Tai heaved in exhaustion as he looked at the unmoving creature, retracting his lightsaber blade with a ‘zip’. He thought it was dead so he decided it would be ok to move away. Everyone else quickly mobbed him. 

“Whoa, Tai. That was amazing!” Matt cried. 

“Does this mean we all have lightsabers too?” TK asked, bouncing so much that Tai was afraid the little boy would pee himself in excitement. 

“That was reckless what you did there,” said Sora, a proud smile on her face as she looked at him. “But I’m glad you did it.” 

Tai chuckled nervously. “Thanks, Sora.” 

A cracking sound reverberated through the entire cliff. The ground started to shake as well, causing the kids to try and keep their balance. Having lived through several earthquakes throughout their lives, they didn’t think they had a reason to fear what was going on…until they saw the ground begin to break apart. 

“This doesn’t look good!” Joe cried as the ground beneath them gave way, sending them plummeting towards the river below.


	3. Shellmon

The rush of the wind blew Tai’s hair in a thousand different directions as he and the others continued to fall from the cliff above. For a brief moment, he felt as if this would be his last moment alive. Thoughts of his parents, of Kari, and of his friends, however, kept him from submitting to what he felt was inevitable. 

Using his heightened reflexes, he tucked into a pike position just as he and others hit the water with a roaring splash. Water filled his ears as the wash from the impact surged up to the surface, the current swiftly carrying him and the others along downriver. After struggling for a few seconds, Tai made his way up to the surface and took a large inhale of air once he did. 

“Guys?” he called out, looking around to see others resurface. “Are you all ok?” 

Sora raised her hand. “I’m okay,” she called back as a small wave blasted her in the face, pushing her under. 

Tai looked behind him to see Matt urge TK to grab onto him, which the younger boy did by wrapping his arms around his brother’s neck. After what had been a minute but felt like hours to the kids, the river settled down. Drifting further along, they saw a landing to their left and quickly swam towards the shore. 

Plopping down onto the dirt-covered ground, Tai heaved to gather air back into his lungs. His young heart pounded from a combination of the adrenaline from the fall, the physical toll that swimming had taken, and the oxygen trying to surge through him. 

“Is everyone alright?” he called, turning onto his back. 

“Yeah we’re good,” replied Matt as he carried TK away from the river. 

“I’m ok,” said Izzy, lamenting the fact that his laptop got soaked. 

Everyone else called back in the affirmative as well, which brought relief to Tai. Now with that episode over, it was time to figure out where they were. They must have traveled almost a mile downriver so there would be no way of knowing which way they were supposed to take to get back. 

‘Well at least that beetle won’t be coming after us anymore,’ he thought. 

Tai felt a surge of energy as he looked at a seething Joe. Pure, unadulterated anger. 

“Great,” the boy raged, his face red as a tomato. “Just perfect. First we end up in an unknown place and then we find a giant bug that wants to kill us and now here we are stuck in the middle of nowhere! Can this day get any worse?” 

He kicked a small stone towards the base of a tree in anger. So much force was behind the kick that the stone bounced back and hit Joe square on the forehead, sending him falling to the ground. 

“It just got worse,” he groaned, gritting his teeth as he rubbed his throbbing forehead. “Ow.” 

“Calm yourself, Joe,” said Sora. “Let’s just take a moment to relax and take a deep breath. Maybe that will help us all feel better.” 

With a deep inhale through his nose, Tai let it out with a long exhale. He felt better almost instantly, his mind clear and cognizant. Everyone else copied him and they too felt peace flow through them. 

Matt was the first to speak up. “Now that that is out of the way, what are we gonna do now?” 

“Maybe if there was a pay phone nearby,” suggested Joe. “We could call the police, fire department, or my mom.” 

“We don’t even know where we are, Joe,” Tai retorted. “Do you honestly think we’re going to find a pay phone in a place like this?” 

“It’s worth a try,” the older boy insisted. “Do you have any ideas, Tai?” 

Tai huffed in amusement. “You’ve got me.” 

“That’s what I thought! It’s worth taking a chance on.” 

“Hold on,” Sora jumped into the conversation. She pointed towards the mountain that they had fallen from. “Maybe we should try going back up to where we started.” 

“I don’t think so,” Matt shook his head. “We should take our chances searching around here. Besides, who knows if we can even get back up there.” 

“I’m not exploring anywhere!” Joe complained. 

While they all threw out ideas and argued, something seemed to nag at the back of Tai’s mind. He could feel a surge of energy coming from the direction to their right. Sitting down in a lotus position, he closed his eyes to focus on the energy. He had seen Star Wars enough to know that Jedi used meditation to focus more clearly so he decided to try it. As he focused more intently, he saw a vision of the sea. 

Opening his eyes, he knew what to do next. 

“It’s this way,” he cried, getting up to walk. 

“Where are you going, Tai?” Sora asked, perplexed at what he was doing. 

“To the ocean,” he replied. “We’re not too far from it. Maybe we can find a way home once we get there.” 

“And how do you know this?” Joe asked incredulously. 

Tai gave his famous Tai Kamiya smile before replying, “Call it a hunch.” 

“That isn’t very reassuring,” Joe muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. “I say we should find a cave and wait for a camp counselor to…” 

He quickly realized that no one else was listening, rather they were all following Tai. Not wanting to be left behind, Joe quickly followed them. 

“Hey, guys!” he cried. “Wait up! Don’t leave me alone!” 

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tai wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and adjusted his headband as the humidity began getting to him. They didn’t have any water with them that he knew of so there wasn’t a way for them to quench their thirst. 

‘Now I know how the American GI’s felt in Vietnam,’ he chuckled. ‘Unfamiliar territory, endless jungle, and murderous humidity. All that’s missing is the Viet Cong.’ 

“This is going to make one hell of a story when we get home, eh guys?” 

“Yeah, like anyone would believe it,” replied Matt with a roll of his eyes, causing Tai to frown. Sometimes he just did not understand Matt at all. 

At the back of the pack, Mimi complained about how her feet were hurting and that the humidity was causing her hair to get all frizzy to anyone who would listen. For a girl who never really did much walking outside of a mall, it was a complete culture shock. 

After walking for a little longer, Tai noticed the river begin to open up. Knowing they were nearing the river delta, they all moved with an extra spring in their step as the ocean drew nearer. To make matters even stranger, the sound of a telephone ringing caught their ears. 

“Is that what I think it is?” Tai asked, desperation permeating his voice as he hoped he wasn’t hearing things. “Please tell me that this is not a mirage.” 

“If it’s what I’m thinking of, then I think we’re all on the same page,” said Sora, matching his excitement. 

Their quickened pace soon turned into a jog as they rounded the corner from where the river spilt into the ocean. A line of telephone booths came into their vision, causing their smiles to widen even more. One phone continued to ring endlessly. As strange as it seemed for there to be telephone booths on a beach, the kids could not care less at the moment. 

“What did I tell you?!” Joe cried ecstatically. “All we needed was a phone. We’re saved!” 

Now in a full-blown sprint, they charged towards the phone booths. Maybe now was their big chance to call someone to come get them and go home. 

Tai then stopped. Something did not feel right to him about this. 

“Hold on a second, everybody,” he said, causing them to stop in mid-stride. “I have a seriously bad feeling about this. Like maybe this could be a trap.” 

Joe looked at him like he had just sprouted a second head. “A trap?” he replied incredulously. “How can phone booths be a trap? This could be our chance to get out of here.” 

“I can’t explain it but I feel as though we shouldn’t do it.” 

Joe rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m going to get us out of here so I’m willing to take that chance.” 

He ran directly for one of the booths and started dialing away. 

“Does anyone else find it odd that there are booths on the beach?” Sora asked. “It doesn’t sit right with me either.” 

“My theory is aliens,” said Izzy. “I think they left these out as a trap.” 

Tai couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the statement. “Yeah, ok. You watch too many sci-fi movies, kid.” 

Izzy huffed. “Then how do you explain that laser sword on your waist? Things like that only happen in science fiction so that wouldn’t be too far-fetched.” 

“He’s got a point there,” Matt nodded, taking his saber off of his belt to take a closer look at it. “I thought I was imagining things after seeing Star Wars too many times. It’s pretty whacked out if you think about it.” 

“So does that mean we’re Jedi of some kind?” TK asked, letting it be known that he was still there. 

“There’s got to be a more logical explanation for this,” Izzy shook his head. “There’s no such thing as Jedi.” 

“Then how do you explain those weird powers we can use, Einstein?” Tai retorted. 

Izzy pulled out his computer and set it down on the sand before taking his saber off his belt to examine it closely. 

“If only I could take it apart,” he began before a low growl made its presence known. Izzy blushed in embarrassment, knowing it was his stomach growling. “After I eat something, of course. I’m quite famished.” 

“Don’t dodge the question,” Tai pressed before his own stomach growled. He sighed in defeat. “Ok, so who’s got something to eat?” 

“Not me,” said Sora, opening her fanny pack to show all she had. “I’ve got just basic first aid stuff.” 

Mimi and Matt shook their heads. 

“Hey, wait a second,” TK chimed in, taking his backpack off. He opened the bag to reveal an assortment of goodies and other junk food courtesy of his worried mother, who packed more than necessary so that he didn’t go hungry at any point. “I’ve got some good stuff in here.” 

Everyone’s mouths watered at the sight of all the snacks. If it wasn’t for their human decency, they would have ravaged the bag like a pack of wolves. 

Mimi in particular was wide-eyed with hunger. 

“Now be a good little boy and share some of those treats with your sweet Mimi,” she said sweetly, hoping to charm the eight-year-old boy into giving her something. 

“You don’t have to be so nice, Mimi,” replied TK. “I’m happy to share.”

Before anyone could dig in, Tai noticed the bag on Joe’s shoulder. 

“Look, guys,” he said. “Joe’s got the emergency food. Hey Joe!” 

Joe, in all of his twelve years of life, had never encountered something as strange as he was facing now. None of the calls he had tried to make went through, rather he had gotten strange replies every time. This did not deter him as he was determined to find a way out of this precarious predicament they were in. 

While waiting for his next call to go through, he turned at the call of his name. 

“Hey! Don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt someone when they’re on the telephone?” he chastised. “I’m trying to get us out of here!” 

“But you’ve got the food bag,” replied Tai. 

“I just brought it because it was Mimi’s turn to carry the bag,” Joe explained before finally giving up on the phones for the time being and returning to the group. “Mimi, you have got to start pulling your weight around here. Do something to help others rather than yourself for a change.” 

“But that bag’s too heavy for me,” she complained, causing Joe to get red in the face. He was almost at his wit’s end with her. 

“GRRRRRRR!” he growled, about ready to let her have it until Tai stepped in to stop him. 

“Joe, take it easy,” he said, grabbing his shoulders to try and calm him down. “The important thing is that we have food to eat. I’m sure once we all get something in our stomachs, we’ll feel better.” 

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Joe conceded. “Fine.” 

Setting the bag down on the ground, he opened it to separate all the food that they had been given. Fruits, vegetables, ramen noodles, carefully preserved pork, and other things that were essential to surviving in an emergency in the wilderness. The kids did their best to control themselves as it was all piled on a blanket. 

“Ok,” said Joe. “So there is seven of us, times three meals, times three days leaves us with…”

“Sixty-three meals,” Izzy calculated. 

“Uh yeah, which is…”

“Enough food for three days.” 

‘Leave it to the computer genius to know everything,’ Joe thought with a roll of his eyes. “Basically, yeah. That means we need to be smart about how much food we are consuming from this bag. We’ll have to ration it.” 

Just as he said that, Tai was already chewing away on some crackers and enjoying himself. Joe’s eyes grew so wide with anger that they almost knocked his glasses off his face. 

“What in Sam Hill are you doing?!” he roared. 

Tai looked at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“I’m hungry,” he said before rolling his eyes. “Boy, I’m sure glad we don’t hear you complaining about anything.” 

Joe’s entire body shook with anger as he finally decided to give up the fight, knowing it was useless. 

“You people drive me crazy,” he huffed, folding his arms across his chest. 

Sora sat down beside him as everyone else got up to grab some food to eat. 

“Hey, Joe,” she smiled warmly, hoping to put him at ease with her presence. “Have any luck with the phones?” 

Running his hand through his hair to push it back from his eyes, he gave a sad sigh. “No. I kept getting these weird messages but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try again. It may just be a wrong number.” 

Just as everyone else settled in, Tai felt something approach them. Maybe it was his Jedi instincts telling him that danger was near. Not wanting to take a chance, he got up and ran towards the water. 

“Tai, where are you going?” Sora called after him. 

“I sense something,” he replied back. “It doesn’t feel good to me.” 

Suddenly water popped out of the ground like a geyser, making its way towards the kids. Eventually the spouts of water sent every telephone booth into the sky and come crashing down, much to Joe’s dismay. Tai activated his lightsaber as he prepared himself for whatever was going to come out of the ground. 

‘Alright, whatever you are,’ he thought, his eyes narrowing in concentration. ‘Come out and fight me. I’m not afraid of you.’ 

He soon got his wish as a giant shellfish emerged from the sand. Its pink body came out of the shell with a loud cry and its eyes were set straight on Tai, causing the boy to step back. 

“Ok, maybe just a little,” he sweat-dropped. 

The shellfish began spraying water from its head towards anything that moved. Joe tried climbing up the cliff wall near them but got sprayed when he was nearing the top, hitting the ground with a loud thud. 

While Matt and Sora checked on Joe’s condition, considering it had been the third time that day he had hit his head on something, Tai tried figuring out a plan of attack. 

‘What do I do?’ he thought. ‘I can’t beat him like this. He’s too big.’ 

His eyes widened as a stream of water came straight for him. He quickly dove to get out of the way at the last second. The stream of water hit the other kids instead, drenching them all in water. Without a second of hesitation, Tai leapt from the ground towards the shell. Reactivating his lightsaber, he was ready to strike but one of the long yellow tentacles that could be considered its “hair” grabbed him. Tai dropped his lightsaber as the tentacle squeezed his torso tightly, threatening to cut off his air supply. 

“Hang on, Tai,” yelled Sora. “We’re coming.” 

But no one else knew what to do. They weren’t sure how to use their Force powers at will like how Tai was able to so they were rendered useless. Meanwhile, Tai was finding it extremely hard to breath as the shellfish fired another stream of water towards the kids. 

‘If only I could…just reach my…lightsaber,’ he thought, which sparked something. Looking down, he saw it lying on the ground. Remembering how Luke Skywalker called his lightsaber in the wampa cave in Empire Strikes Back, Tai flexed his hand as he focused. 

Down below, the sword started to shake, which caused Tai to concentrate even harder as his face started to turn blue from the lack of oxygen. The saber launched up to Tai’s hand and was activated in a flash. He quickly cut off the tentacle that held him. The shellfish roared in pain as Tai landed safely on the ground. 

“Alright, enough fooling around,” he gritted his teeth as he tried to slow his breathing and draw out what strength he had left inside to fight. “Time to get rid of you for good.” 

Closing his eyes so he could concentrate better, Tai lifted his hand. The sun symbol on his arm glowed orange as the crustacean was lifted into the air. It gave a cry of discomfort as it rose higher and higher but Tai showed no signs of stopping. 

Once he felt that it was at an appropriate height, Tai opened his eyes and began to channel even more energy. The bright orange light coming from the symbol on his arm was almost blinding now so he released the built up energy towards the monster. It was sent flying towards the horizon before finally landing in the ocean with a giant splash that sent water almost three feet into the air.

Having used so much energy, Tai fell on his butt before lying back on the sand to catch his breath. The combination of adrenaline from his near-death experience and his physical exhaustion really drained him of his energy. 

Sora and Matt were by his side in an instant. 

“Tai, are you ok?” asked Sora. 

“Yeah, man. You alright? You scared us there for a second.” Matt echoed. 

Tai smiled weakly at them as he found the strength to raise his head slightly. 

“You guys got any food that I can eat?” he asked, causing them both to start laughing. If all he cared about was food, then they knew he was all right. 

XXXXXXXXXX

“Come on. I know you’re there,” said Joe as he tried in vain to use a phone again. “Operator? OPERATOR!” he yelled into the receiver, hoping to get an answer. 

A fair distance away, everyone watched with amused smiles on their faces. 

“So who wants to break the bad news to Joe?” Matt asked. 

“I may as well,” Tai stepped forward. “Hey, Joe! Give it up already. We’ve got to come up with a new plan.” 

Realizing that Tai was right, no matter how much it hurt him to admit it, Joe put the phone down and walked back towards the group, slouching over in anguish that nothing worked. 

“Can this day get any worse?” he moaned as Tai began going over a new plan. 

“The shellfish was not destroyed, Tai,” Izzy reminded him. “He was merely removed, which means we better get out of here before he comes back for round two.” 

“You’re right,” Tai nodded. “But where do we go?” 

“I say we make our way back into the forest,” Joe suggested. “If anyone is looking for us, then that is the first place that they will look.” 

“Joe, we fell off a cliff,” Sora said with a roll of her eyes. “We’re going to have a tough time getting back there unless you can find another way for us to do it.” 

The boy raised his hands defensively. “It was just a suggestion.” 

Izzy then spoke up. “Joe, logically speaking, if there are telephones here then there must be people around to use them. The most reasonable thing would be to try and find these people.” 

Tai nodded in agreement. “He’s right. It’s either that or wait for that monster to come back and make us his dinner. All in favor of leaving?” 

Almost everyone raised his or her hands immediately. Joe was the only one who abstained but after feeling everyone glare at him, he reluctantly raised it. 

“Good,” Tai smiled. “Let’s get moving.” 

After gathering their gear, the group of kids made their way back into the forest. No matter what it took, they were going to find a way back home.


	4. The Jedi of Friendship

Tai’s aching feet screamed in protest as he continued to walk along the forest path. Even while his feet disagreed, his brain told him that they should keep going while they still had daylight. The group had been walking all day and still had not found any traces of human settlements. The only thing they had found were two rhinoceros-like creatures fighting over territory. The kids had gotten caught in the middle of the battle but were able to escape before any harm could be done. 

A few paces behind him, Mimi felt like she was going to drop to the ground and die. Her feet hurt so much that she feared they would fall off if she kept going. 

“I never walk this much unless I’m at a mall,” she complained loudly. “As you can see, we’re nowhere near one!” 

Tai growled in annoyance. “Mimi, stop complaining. What are you gonna do, call a taxi?” 

“That would be better than all this walking we have been doing,” she continued, her shoulders hunched over. “My feet hurt.” 

“Just pretend that you’re getting a foot massage or something,” Tai replied carelessly. “Maybe that will shut you up for the next while. We’re going until we find some form of civilization.” 

Just as he said that, the others gasped as they saw wrong way road signs pop up amongst the foliage. It was certainly an odd sight since there was no pavement or cars anywhere on the island. 

The sky started turning magenta and pink as the sun began to set. Compared to a normal sunset back in Japan, this one seemed odd to the kids for the sun was not setting the way it was supposed to. 

“What a weird sunset,” said Sora. 

“Everything about this place is weird,” echoed Izzy. “I say that we should find a place to camp out for the night. Who knows what comes out during that time.” 

Matt, while carrying TK on his back, had heard enough complaining from everyone. All day long he was either listening to Mimi or Joe complaining underneath their breath or Izzy saying something about this island not making sense. It was driving him crazy. 

“I say we keep moving forward and stop all this complaining,” he said, weariness clear on his expression. “Safety should be our top priority here so we shouldn’t look to camp anywhere.” 

“You’ve got a point there, Matt,” Tai smiled, happy that someone agreed with his plan to keep moving forward. 

The small boy on Matt’s back gave a small yawn. “Matt, I’m hungry.” 

Matt sighed. “You sure you can’t hold out a little longer, squirt?” he asked, a little annoyed that TK would make that kind of a request right now. “I don’t think it’s safe to make camp for the night.” 

The loud rumbling of the boy’s stomach gave Matt his answer. 

“Alright, we’ll get you something to eat,” he bent down so that TK could dismount from him with a roll of his eyes. “Looks like we’ll probably have to stop and rest for the night,” he told the group. “I don’t want TK to be up so late.” 

Tai gave a sigh in understanding before he spoke. “Ok. Let’s start looking for a place to set up camp and get ourselves some food.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was not much longer before the kids found a small lake in the middle of the forest that looked like it would be a good place to stop and rest for the night. After setting up camp for the evening, their eyes came upon a most peculiar sight: a trolley car sat in the middle of a rock. How it got there was anyone’s guess but the kids did not want to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

Mimi dashed for the trolley as if her life depended on it, Tai and the others soon followed. 

“Mimi, wait up!” Tai cried. “Remember those telephone booths? This could be another trap.” 

“I don’t care!” she called back. “If it means any kind of luxury I’m willing to take that chance.” 

Ripping the door open, she barged in. Immediately her visions of grandeur were brought down to earth: all that the trolley had were benches on the side but not much else that would be useful. Mimi was so caught up in her disappointment that she didn’t notice the others pooling up behind her. 

“Doesn’t look like there’s much to it,” said Sora with a sigh of disappointment. She too had hoped the trolley would yield something that could be beneficial to the group. “But at least it’s a place where we can sleep tonight. Sure beats sleeping on the ground.” 

“That’s true,” Tai nodded. 

Izzy moved past everybody else to go up to the front. It was like something up there had called to him; it was the most peculiar thing that the ten-year-old boy had ever felt in his life. When he got up there, he could see nothing but the lake, forest, and mountains in the distance. What could be calling to him? 

“What’s up, Izzy? You see something?” Tai called as everyone else started to make themselves at home on the seats. 

“Not really,” the boy shook his head. “Unless you count a nice view of the island as something.” 

The symbol on Izzy’s arm glowed a faint purple as his hand went over what could be considered the glove compartment. Something in there may have been what was calling to him if it made the symbol start to glow. Without a second of hesitation, he opened it. Inside the compartment was a small piece of parchment that was folded over several times, almost like someone wanted them to find it. 

‘How very peculiar,’ he thought. ‘What is something like this doing here? Maybe someone left it, which means there has to be people somewhere nearby.’ 

Without stopping to unfold the parchment, he stuffed it into his shirt pocket to look at later before moving to the center of the car to rejoin the group. Tai looked at him like he knew Izzy was hiding something. 

“Can we eat now?” TK asked, his stomach growling louder than before. 

With a sharp breath in realization, Tai turned to the younger boy. “That’s right, I forgot. Let’s split into teams: catching fish, preparing the fire, and finding other things that we can eat. We’ve got a lot to do before dark.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After assigning groups, everybody split to fulfill the tasks that were asked of them. Izzy and TK were in charge of catching fish for dinner though Tai had to show them how to use the makeshift poles because they could not figure it out for the life of them. Tai dug the pit that they would use for the fire while Matt and Sora gathered firewood from the forest; Mimi and Joe were in charge of finding anything else that would be edible such as berries. 

After gathering the wood, it just dawned on Tai that he did not know anything about making a fire. He looked at Matt and Sora for help but they both looked just as lost as he did. 

“Anyone have a match?” he asked. 

“No,” they both replied with a shake of their heads. 

Sora then got an idea. 

“Hold on. I think I’ve got something,” she said, bending down and taking a stick between her hands. She placed it on top of another piece of wood and started rubbing it between her palms. The boys watched in amazement as she continued rubbing the stick until the wood underneath started to smoke. Sora then blew on it, which led to the pile of smaller sticks being engulfed in flames. 

“How did you do that?” Tai demanded. 

She shrugged. “Saw it in a movie once. You guys can learn a thing or two from me.” 

Clapping them both on the shoulder, she walked into the forest to find some more wood to keep the fire going. By now the flames were starting to grow. TK and Izzy then came by with armfuls of fish, more than enough to feed them all and still plenty to keep for later. 

Matt watched Tai try and figure out how to cook the fish with an amused expression. Right now he was just holding the fish by its tail over the fire. If Matt didn’t do something, Tai could potentially burn his fingers off. 

“You wanna lose your fingers, be my guest, but not on my watch,” he said, putting the fish Tai was holding on a stick and stuck it in the sand in front of the fire. “Here, try this.” 

“How did you know that, Matt?” 

“Have you ever roasted marshmallows before?” 

Tai shook his head. 

Matt chuckled. “There’s a shocker. Letting it cook this way is much easier.” 

Soon everyone was sitting in front of the fire and plowed their way through the meal. It may not have been ideal to any of them compared to downhome cooking but desperate times called for desperate measures. Tai chowed down on the fish as if he hadn’t eaten in days. 

Matt looked at TK, who was sitting on his left. The young boy had not touched his food yet and was looking at it like he had never seen fish before. 

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Weren’t you hungry?” 

“Matt, Mom only lets me eat fish sticks,” TK replied. 

His older brother exhaled with a roll of his eyes. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell her anything.” 

“Haven’t eaten with my fingers either.” 

“It’s alright, TK!” Matt snapped. 

Tai then stepped in to try and lighten things up. 

“Yeah, you’re hangin’ with the big boys now, little man,” he said with that cocky smile of his. Despite his demeanor, he couldn’t help but be troubled at how Matt treated his younger sibling; it was almost like Matt thought of TK as a burden or a bother rather than someone who was his brother. 

TK shrugged his shoulders and happily started chowing away at the meal in front of him. Tai spotted Sora washing a stick she had used to move the firewood in the river and immediately made his way over to her. 

“Hey, Sora,” 

“What’s up?” she asked, looking up to see her best friend standing beside her. 

“Matt doesn’t treat TK like he’s a brother,” Tai observed, not keeping his eyes off the two blondes. “Only like he’s a bother. What’s up with that?” 

“Matt’s still learning how to be a big brother. They don’t see each other all that often because their parents are split up.” Sora then smiled at him. “Not everyone can have the same relationship you and Kari enjoy. Speaking of which, what happened with her?” 

“She got sick early this morning,” he replied as he sat down at the edge of the river. “Totally out of nowhere. I hope she’s doing ok.” 

“She’ll be fine. Once we get back home, she’ll be there waiting for you.” 

Tai nodded in appreciation. “If we ever get back home.” 

“That’s weird.” 

The two friends turned to see Joe looking up at the sky, like he was trying to find something up there. 

“What’s the matter, Joe?” Sora asked. 

“I can’t find the North Star,” he replied. “I’ve never seen constellations like these before.” 

“I’m not so sure these are the ones we’re used to seeing,” she nodded, looking up at the sky as well. “You guys sure we’re still on Earth?” 

“Did you try looking in the other direction?” Tai jumped in. “Everyone knows that if you can’t find the North Star, it’s on the other side of the world. Astronomy 101, my friends.” 

“You may be right,” Joe conceded with a nod of his head. 

A loud yawn then escaped Tai’s mouth as he stretched his arms up to the sky. It had been a long day and he was starting to feel tired. Looking around, he could see that everybody else felt the same way. 

“Alright, let’s start turning in, everyone,” he said. 

“Hold on,” Izzy replied. “Why don’t we all take turns standing guard for the night? Who knows what could come out at night so there’s nothing wrong with taking some extra security.” 

“Not TK,” Matt interjected right away, his tone serious as a heart attack. 

“Aw, come on, Matt!” the boy complained. “I want to help.” 

“No,” his brother doubled down. “You’re too young and you need your rest.” 

“Besides, you never know what comes out late at night,” Tai smirked, a teasing tone in his voice. “Mimi could be sleepwalking. If you feel the cold steel at the back of your neck, it means she’s about to get ya.” 

The satisfaction he got lasted all of a few seconds before a fist connected with his face. Tai stumbled to the ground before looking up to see a furious Matt standing over him. 

“Don’t ever do that again, Tai!” he roared. “You could have frightened him.” 

“Geez, Matt. Don’t get so bent out of shape,” Tai retorted. “I was just messing with the kid. You can’t tell me what to do.” 

“Oh yeah?” 

“Yeah!” 

Before Matt could charge towards Tai, the goggle-headed leader activated his lightsaber in a flash with the blade being pointed directly towards Matt’s chest. Tai looked at him like he was daring him to make a move. 

“Both of you knock it off,” Joe ordered as he got in-between them. “You’d make great guards, especially you, Tai, since you have your laser sword thing, so who wants to take first shift?” 

“I’ll do it,” Tai immediately replied. 

“I’m next,” came Matt. 

Joe smiled, relieved that the conflict between the two of them was over. “Ok, then Izzy will follow and I’ll finish up the night. Sound fair?” 

“Sure, whatever,” replied Tai carelessly as he deactivated his lightsaber. 

“Ok, then everybody else follow me to the trolley to get some sleep.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Matt turned over as he tried to make himself comfortable with the little room he had on the row he had taken up on the trolley. If he had to be honest, he would have preferred sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag than on a trolley with little room to move around in. Despite that, at least they were warm inside. 

Deciding his attempts to try and sleep were useless, he got up from his row to go outside and try to relax. His guard shift was coming up in a couple of hours so he needed to rest so that he could be alert. Before he did, he took off his sleeveless shirt and placed it down onto TK’s sleeping form to try and make him more comfortable. The young boy shifted slightly in his sleep as the extra warmth came over him, which caused Matt to smile a little. The boy’s eyes then flashed open for a moment to look down and see the shirt before glancing up at his brother. 

“Thanks, Matt,” he smiled.

Matt turned away to avoid making eye contact. His face was tinged a slight red in embarrassment. He had been caught. Without offering a “you’re welcome,” he walked out of the trolley. The cold air hit his bare torso but it was well worth it to him. 

Looking out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tai keeping the fire burning as he watched the area, the argument they had still fresh in his mind. He soon made his way to the edge of the rock they were on and looked out at the jungle. The day’s events played through his mind like a movie; one minute they were all at camp and then the next they were taken to another world armed with laser swords and strange powers that were supposed to be in movies. It was enough to drive anyone out of their mind. His hand drifted down to the lightsaber at his waist and took it off his belt to examine it even closer, along with the symbol on his arm. 

“Oh. Matt, it’s you,” came Tai’s voice. “Don’t you think I can handle this?” 

Matt looked over his shoulder to see Tai splashing water onto his face to try and keep him up. He didn’t want to start anything. 

“I couldn’t sleep,” he replied. 

“Oh and why not?” Tai now stood right beside him. 

With a sigh, Matt replied, “Look, I’m sorry about earlier. It’s just being here and having to watch TK has got me stressed out.” 

“Do you guys even live in the same house?” 

The question threw Matt off. 

“Not anymore,” he replied. “Folks divorced when I was seven. TK went to live with my mom and I went to live with my dad, the rest is history. Because of that, we don’t get to see each other a lot.” 

“Hm. Never knew that,” Tai said in genuine surprise. 

The fact he had just spilled his guts about his family’s inner workings caused Matt to feel embarrassed. It was not something he liked to talk about with people and usually never brought it up. Why had he brought it up now? 

Tai noticed the look of discomfort on his face. “What’s the matter?” 

Matt then ran off towards land on the shore. He wanted to be alone for a while so that he could relax and unwind. Once he reached the shore, he sat down into a meditative position. If he was correct, he should be sleepy in no time. Once his eyes closed, he felt everything around him enter his thoughts: the water, the plants and the trees, even the other kids. He could feel their life energy flowing through him, as weird as it sounded to him. 

‘Is this the Force?’ he asked himself. 

“Hello, Matt,” a masculine voice entered his mind, husky with a tone of friendliness. ‘I have waited a long time to read your thoughts.’ 

Matt jumped slightly at the sound of the new voice. ‘Who are you? How do you know me?’ 

“You can call me a friend if you wish.” 

‘That doesn’t answer my question,’ he replied. ‘Who are you?’ 

“All will be revealed in time, Matt, but for now be very careful. Evil is upon you and your friends. I must go now. May the Force be with you.” 

‘Hey, wait!’ Matt tried to get an explanation but soon he could not hear the voice anymore. 

“Well that was strange,” he muttered. 

As he recovered from the shock of that experience, the sound of something emerging from the lake, accompanied by a hiss that sounded like a gust of wind, jolted Matt from his concentration. Looking up, he saw a giant sea dragon with a long teal-colored body and a red tail. Matt hoped for a moment that it wasn’t dangerous but the murderous intent in its eyes told him the exact opposite. 

‘What do I do?’ he wondered. ‘I can’t beat this guy.’ 

“Matt, help!” 

That was TK’s voice. The rock had been moved to the middle of the lake with no way for the other kids to escape the monster. Immediately without thinking, Matt jumped into the water to try and swim over. He had always been a strong swimmer so that part was not what worried him; what did was how he was planning on fighting the sea dragon. 

His determination rose stroke for stroke as he neared the rock. No one was going to hurt his friends without him having something to say about it. 

“Hold on, guys,” he called. “I’m coming.” 

“Matt, watch out!” TK cried. “Don’t let the monster get you!” 

His warning came too late as Matt felt something wrap around his leg and drag him down under the water. He thrashed around violently, trying to get whatever was holding his leg to let go of him, but all it was doing was sucking away precious oxygen that he knew was quickly running out. Soon whatever that held his leg had moved up to wrap itself around his entire body before he was brought to the surface. 

Tai was unable to stand by and watch as Matt was slowly being suffocated by the sea dragon’s tail. Activating his lightsaber, he immediately sprang into action by running to the edge of the rock but the monster seemed to have anticipated his move. It quickly launched an attack from its mouth, blowing Tai back, and covering him in snow. 

“Matt, use the Force!” he called, realizing that it was all up to Matt to get out of this situation on his own. 

Matt could barely hear him due to the blood pounding in his head as it struggled to carry oxygen to his brain. It felt like he was in the coils of an anaconda that was slowly squeezing him to death. 

“I don’t know how!” he choked out, his face beginning to turn blue. 

“Concentrate,” Tai shouted back. “You can do it. If you don’t, you’re going to die, Matt!” 

Matt realized he had no choice. If he didn’t want to continue suffering a slow, painful death, he had to do something. Unbeknownst to him, due to his eyes being shut tight, the symbol on his arm started to glow a faint blue. Focusing his concentration even more, it glowed brighter with each passing moment until the light was so bright that even with his eyes tightly shut, he could see it. Feeling all of this power surging through him, he gave a loud piercing cry that gurgled from deep inside the depths of his soul burst out, allowing a field of energy to surround him. He then released the energy, which broke him free from the monster’s tail’s grip. 

He hit the water and quickly swam back for land, knowing that the sea dragon was not going to let him escape that easily. It hissed in anger as it hurdled towards him but Matt was ready for it as he climbed up onto the rock. Plucking the saber from his belt, he quickly activated it. The blade glowed a bright green, illuminating Matt’s face with the light. Everyone else watched in awe as a confident smirk spread across his face. 

“Alright, you big bastard. Let’s dance.” 

The attack came as quick as a snakebite as the sea dragon lunged down towards him but Matt leapt out of the way with acrobatics that he never knew he could do. Another attack came just as quickly but he got out of the way of this one too. Feeling confident in himself, Matt anticipated the next attack and slashed the creature’s eye in an upward motion. It roared in pain as its anger rose, which caused Matt’s smirk to grow even wider; he had the beast right where he wanted it. 

Deciding to change tactics, the monster this time swung its tail towards Matt to try and knock him off balance. With a powerful strike, Matt cut off its tail in one fell swoop, which emitted an agonizing cry from the sea dragon. Matt decided it was time to put it out of its misery so he jumped up onto its body and ran up its back until he leapt. Everything seemed to pass in slow motion as he swung his lightsaber across the creature’s throat before landing in the water with a splash. The serpent collapsed into the water with him as it fell dead. 

Everyone else was amazed by what they had seen; the way Matt took down the monster was almost like watching a heroic knight slay the mighty dragon. Even Tai had to admit that he was impressed by Matt’s display of power. 

Matt surfaced after a few seconds and calmly swam towards the rock, a proud smile etched onto his face. Everyone was there to greet him once he climbed onto the surface, TK being the first one, throwing his arms around his brother’s waist in a hug. 

“Matt, that was amazing!” the young boy said, his voice dripping with awe and amazement. “You were so awesome the way you took that monster down.” 

The older blonde simply blushed in embarrassment from the display of affection simply because it was in front of everybody else. 

“Uh…thanks, little dude,” he replied, ruffling the boy’s head. 

“I must say that I am very impressed, Matt,” said Tai. “That monster had nothing on you. I can sense a lot of raw power that you haven’t even begun to tap into yet.” 

“You think so?” 

Tai nodded. “I know so.” 

Joe then came in to disrupt the moment. “Ok, I think we have all had enough excitement for one day. How are we going to get back to shore?” 

Matt looked at Tai, who nodded in confirmation that he knew what he wanted to do. 

“Leave that to us,” he said. 

Closing their eyes in concentration, the symbols on Matt and Tai’s arms started to glow. Stretching their arms out and flexing their hands, the rock began to move towards the shore. Everyone watched in amazement as the shore got closer and closer until the rock finally made contact. Due to the amount of energy that they expanded to do that, Matt and Tai collapsed to their right knee to get their breath back. 

“All ashore,” Tai said in his best sea captain voice, which got a laugh out of Matt. 

XXXXXXXXXX

The sun had started to rise in the sky but the kids were tired from all that had gone on earlier. As soon as they stepped foot onto the shore, everyone else collapsed from exhaustion except for Tai. He was about to fall asleep when he noticed Matt and TK sleeping close together, the older blonde with his arm wrapped around the boy protectively. 

“Big bro, you’re the best,” he could hear TK mutter contently, which brought a smile to Tai’s face. 

‘I think I was wrong about you, Matt,’ he thought before settling down to sleep.


	5. Sora Gets Firepower

The Dark Castle

A shadowy figure watched the kids on the crystal ball with annoyance. He had sent two of his strongest monsters against the Destined Jedi and they had fallen to their power. They were beginning to tap into their abilities faster than he had anticipated. 

“They’re learning fast,” he muttered. “At this rate, they will be unstoppable by the time they are trained.” 

Suddenly the picture changed and another shadowy figure appeared on the crystal ball. 

“What is it, Devimon?” 

“My lord,” the one known as Devimon said. “The Dark Gears are ready to be released. Shall I proceed with your order?” 

The figure nodded, revealing his fangs as his lips curled in a grin. “Release them. Shellmon and Seadramon were mere warm ups for what I have in store for them. If they can take them individually, just wait until they are up against an army.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Forest  
File Island

Sora looked up at the sound of something whirring overhead; sounding almost like mosquitos or even helicopters. She saw two dark gears fly by as the group continued forward through a thick forest. For a second, she thought that she had gone crazy. After all, this type of thing never happened in their world before. 

“Did you guys see that?” she asked. 

Tai turned to look at her. 

“See what, Sora?” he replied, looking around. 

Another gear flew by above them, sounding like a zipping jet as it went by. Sora pointed up to the sky. 

“That.” 

“Looked like an aircraft to me,” said Matt as he shrugged his shoulders indifferently. “No big deal.” 

“I think it was more like a gear,” Sora retorted. “You don’t see aircraft like that back home.” 

“Admit it,” Izzy added. “My alien theory is becoming more plausible.” 

“You watch too many movies, kid,” Tai snickered before a cry from TK interrupted them. His foot slipped off the root he had stepped on and was about to fall if Tai hadn’t caught him. 

“You ok?” 

TK exhaled as the adrenaline flowed through his small body. “That could have been messy,” he chuckled lightheartedly. 

“Be lucky that we’re all here to look after you,” Tai said, giving him a smile before patting him on the head. 

Matt frowned as he watched the scene; that should have been him doing that for TK rather than Tai. He had been staring long enough that Tai gave him a funny look. 

“What’re you looking at?” he asked. 

Matt quickly turned his head away without an explanation, causing Tai to give a hum in curiosity. He could sense Matt’s thoughts and felt the jealousy burning through him when he saw the look Matt gave him. 

“Now that that’s over, let’s keep moving,” Sora suggested.

“Hold on a second,” Matt replied. “We don’t even know where we’re going. Heck, where would we go?” 

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Tai jumped in. “I say we keep moving so that we can find some form of intelligent life around here. Maybe we’ll even find those people we’ve been searching for.” 

Sora stood in deep thought. Over the two days that they had been on this island, they had not found one trace of other humans beside themselves. Maybe there were no other people here. 

‘I wonder if we’re going about this all wrong,’ she thought. ‘Maybe besides these creatures we’ve encountered, there’s nothing else on this island. It’s a real life Swiss Family Robinson by all accounts.’ 

While she was thinking, the others continued walking on without her. It wasn’t until she turned around to tell Tai what she was thinking that she noticed they were gone. She frowned as she watched them walk away. 

“Well thanks for waiting,” she called sarcastically before running to catch up with them. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Desert

“It’s so hot!” 

“Mimi, stop complaining,” Tai said with a roll of his eyes. 

He had to admit that she was right though. After getting out of the forest, the motley crew of kids was walking through a desert with sand dunes as far as the eye could see. That wasn’t the weirdest part though: strung along the sand were a series of telephone poles with no wires. It was the strangest thing that any of them had ever seen, and that was saying something considering all they had seen over the last two days. 

Feeling the heat starting to get to him, Tai removed his shirt and tied it around his waist, allowing the sun to beat down on his tan skin. Even that did not stop him from feeling hot due to the hot air pressing against his bare skin. 

He groaned. “It’s no use! It’s too damn hot out here!” 

“That’s it,” said Joe with a tone of despair. “We’re doomed! We’re gonna fry like roasted piglets!” 

“Relax, Joe,” Izzy chimed in to try and calm him down. “We’ve only been walking for two minutes. I seriously doubt it takes two minutes for something to be fried.” 

“Well do you have any ideas on what to do, smart guy?” Joe retorted, ready to throttle Izzy into the middle of next century. 

“Guys!” Sora shouted, having enough of all the complaining. “Enough! We have to stay positive so let’s pretend that it’s raining instead.” 

“How do you do that?” Mimi asked incredulously. 

Sora smiled. “Easy. Just imagine that raindrops are falling on you; it’s all about mind over matter.” 

“That’s great and all but we have to find a water source and some shade,” Matt shook his head. “I say we turn back now and get out of this desert.” 

Joe nodded quickly in agreement. “I’m for that. We should get out now.” 

Something then caught Tai’s eye in the distance. Pulling his mini-telescope out of his pocket, he pulled it up to his eye so that he could confirm what he was seeing was real. If it was a mirage, he was going to scream. 

In the distance, he could see palm trees along with a lake right in the middle. It was an oasis! 

“If my eyes don’t deceive me,” he said to his companions. “There’s an oasis not too far from here. We can get some water and shade!”

Joe jumped with excitement before taking off, leaving a cloud of dust behind him as he left everyone behind before they even knew what had hit them. With a shrug, they all ran after him as well, their excitement rising with every step. 

As she ran, Sora felt as if someone had stuck a knife into her chest. Her hand pressed against it to try and alleviate whatever was ailing her, causing her to stop running, but it didn’t help at all. Something was amiss somewhere and she wanted to know what it was. 

Tai noticed that she stopped, which caused him to skid to a halt along with everyone else. 

“Sora, what’s the matter?” he asked, moving towards her and resting a gloved hand on her bare shoulder. “Why’d you stop?” 

She looked up at him with a grave expression before replying, “I felt a disturbance. It was as if someone was in terrible pain and calling for help. Something is wrong.” 

Tai thought about this for a second. Another thing he remembered from watching Star Wars was that when a Jedi felt a disturbance in the Force, they would react as if they were in pain. It usually meant that something somewhere was not right. 

“Can you go on?” he asked, squatting down to be on a more reasonable level with her. “Or do you need some time to rest?” 

Hearing the possibility of more rest caused everyone else to groan loudly. They were hot enough as it is; they didn’t want to stop anymore before the oasis. 

“No, I’m ok,” Sora shook her head, appreciating Tai’s concern, before getting back up on her feet. “Let’s keep moving.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes.” 

Tai hesitated for a second before resuming his quick stride along with everyone else. Within a couple of minutes, they ran under the trees and breathed a collective sigh of relief from the shade that washed over them. Up ahead, they could see Joe swimming happily about in the lake. 

“Hey guys,” he called. “Come on in! The water’s great!” 

“I dunno,” said TK, twiddling his thumbs nervously at the sight of the lake. “I can’t swim very well.” 

Tai, Matt and Izzy pushed past him, stripping off their clothes. The girls went wide-eyed with a strip of red going across their faces. It was not a sight that the two of them wanted to see so they turned away to spare themselves from seeing more than they knew was appropriate. 

“I’m going to go find some stuff we can use,” said Sora, quickly scuttling off, her blush deepening. 

“I think I’ll go relax under a tree,” Mimi quickly nodded in agreement, leaving the boys time to enjoy a swim. 

Sora’s face burned as she relived the moment again and again in her mind. She knew that it was probably tattooed on her brain by now, much to her horror. 

‘I never want to see a naked man again!’ she swore as she continued to walk. 

After a while, the trauma of what she had seen started to wear off and she focused on finding a fresh water supply away from the lake and some things to eat. Her throat felt as dry as the desert they just came out of so she needed a drink of water. Using her hat as a basket, she picked whatever fruits she came across: mangoes, berries, bananas, even a few coconuts; but the water was becoming difficult to find. 

“Alright, water, where are you?” Sora muttered to herself. Her hand grazed the lightsaber on her belt, snapping her out of her concentration. Taking it into her hand, she examined it along with the heart-shaped symbol on her arm. 

‘I wonder if I will be able to activate it soon like Tai and Matt did.’ 

It was basically because of Tai that Sora had gotten interested in the Star Wars movies in the first place. Her mother hadn’t approved but then again, when did she approve of whatever Sora was interested in? Even with that, Sora did not understand much of it on a deep level. Her symbol hadn’t glowed at any point yet. 

‘I hope it does.’ 

‘It will, Sora. You just have to believe in yourself and the Force,’ a new voice entered her mind, causing her to jump slightly and look around the area for the source of the voice. 

“Who’s there?” she called, forcing herself into a defensive stance with the lightsaber held out threateningly. “Show yourself.” 

‘I am speaking to you through the Force, Sora,’ the voice in her head replied. ‘You won’t find me in my physical form anywhere around here.’ 

‘You can do that?’ 

‘Yes I can. I have been waiting to speak to you for a long time, longer than you could ever imagine.’ 

Closing her eyes, Sora sat down to the ground in a meditative position so that she could focus on responding to the voice. Hearing nothing but the gentle breeze blowing through the trees and her own breathing enhanced her concentration. 

‘Then can you help me find some water? My friends and I just came out of a desert and we need something to drink.’ 

‘Certainly. There is a well not too far from where you are right now. The water in there is especially pure from Mihurashi Mountain.’ 

Sora sighed in relief. ‘Thank you…what should I call you?’

‘Just call me a friend. We will meet soon, Sora. I am looking forward to it. May the Force be with you.’ 

After that, Sora didn’t hear the voice anymore. Opening her eyes, she channeled her focus to find where this well was. Feeling a flow of energy under the ground, she followed it as it continued to get stronger. Seeing water rise from the ground up ahead, her pace quickened until she reached the well. Her mouth lit up from all the natural minerals flowing through her mouth as she took a sip from it. 

‘This is the most amazing water I have ever tasted!’ 

She quickly found a bucket nearby and took a giant swig of water from it before pouring it into her canteen. Sora could hardly believe her luck in finding this well; there was plenty enough to last them for weeks. 

As she was about to go for another round, she was met with a nasty surprise: the well had dried up. Just like that. It had been bursting with water just a second ago but now was dry as a bone. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity, wondering how that could have happened. 

Determined to get to the bottom of this, Sora leaned over the edge of the well to try and see if there was any water left but felt a burst of heat blast her in the face. She quickly moved back before a stream of fire rose up from the well. To add onto her troubles, she could sense something hurdling its way towards the oasis at a blistering pace. 

‘Just one thing after another today,’ she groaned. 

“Sora!” 

‘That’s Mimi’s voice,’ she quickly turned at the call of her name. It sounded like Mimi was in trouble so without a moment of hesitation, Sora sprang into action. She attached her canteen to her waist and ran towards the lake. Looking around, she saw that it had dried up too. 

“What is going on here!” she demanded. 

“Sora, is that you?” 

She recognized that as Tai’s voice. “Yeah,” she called back. “Where are you?” 

“Down here! At the bottom of the lake.” 

Sora ran to the edge of the lake and saw nothing but sediment. Just like the well, the giant hole in the ground that used to house the water was dry as a bone. Turning her head farther, the blush returned with a vengeance. She let out a loud shriek. 

“Gross! Cover up!” 

Down below, the five boys laid spread eagle on the ground…with nothing covering what was supposed to be covered. When the lake suddenly dried up, they fell to the bottom of the pit. 

“Over there! Over there! Our clothes. Get our clothes!” Tai pointed to the other side of the pit, his face red as a tomato in embarrassment from being seen by a girl, let alone Sora.

“Sora!” Mimi came charging towards the auburn-haired girl, her face one of perpetual panic. “There’s something coming! It looked like a giant fireball!” 

She could sense it coming and it did not seem friendly. Sora knew what she had to do at that moment. 

“I’ll try and slow this thing down,” she instructed. “You take care of the boys.” 

Mimi’s face paled. “But, but, but, but,” she stammered but Sora was already running away from her towards where she felt the fireball Mimi described coming from. 

“Well, Mimi, don’t just stand there! Get our clothes for us!” Joe cried from inside the pit. 

She groaned loudly before reluctantly walking over to where the boys’ clothes were all piled up. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Running to the edge of the oasis, Sora could see a light in the distance. If she had to guess, she would say that was the fireball that Mimi was talking about. Suddenly she wished she still had that extra bucket of water with her to put him out. 

“It’s all up to me now,” she muttered before activating her lightsaber. The blade glowed a bright blue as she held it in a defensive stance, the fireball getting even closer than before. 

‘Steady,’ she repeated to keep herself calm, even as her breathing increased rapidly. 

The fireball was now crossing the desert, the forest behind it becoming ablaze. 

‘Steady.’ 

She could finally get a good look at it. It had the body of a man but was composed entirely of flames. She could sense a dark energy coming from it, somewhere in its back. Sora had a hunch as to what it could be and if she were right, then maybe this creature would go back to normal. 

“Do you think you can stop me, Destined Jedi?” it taunted her with an evil smirk. 

‘What did he call me?’ Sora cocked an eyebrow in confusion. As she contemplated its remark, the fireball was now standing right in front of her. Its flames burned so hot that she could feel the heat radiating off of it, causing her entire body to start sweating. 

“I don’t know what your problem is but maybe I can help you,” she offered. “Just tell me what’s wrong.” 

Instead of an answer, the creature instead tossed a small ball of fire towards her. Using her lightsaber, Sora was able to knife her way through it. 

A flaming sword then emerged into its hand before it took a swing at Sora. She blocked the strike swiftly before retaliating with a strike of her own. 

This back-and-forth continued on with it being a complete stalemate. Even with no training and little experience in saber fighting, Sora was able to hold her own quite well, mostly due to her survival instincts.

As her confidence grew, she became more forceful in her strikes and quicker to dodge any attacks that came her way, almost as if she had been doing this her entire life. She then concentrated on trying to use a Force attack to knock him back, but her symbol did not glow. 

‘What?’ she thought as she stared at it, still the same color that it was before. Why hadn’t it glowed? Using the distraction to its advantage, the flame creature swept her legs out from under her, sending her crashing to the ground with a thud and her lightsaber deactivated. 

Feeling the flaming sword pointed at her throat, she was afraid that this was the end. 

“Good effort, Destined Jedi,” the creature smirked. “But now is the time for you to die.” 

Sora closed her eyes as it raised the sword in preparation for the strike that would end her life, a tear running down her cheek. The sound of two lightsabers igniting pierced the air, distracting the creature from delivering the final strike. Sora looked over to see Matt and Tai standing at the edge of the tree line. 

“Hey, you!” Tai’s voice came. “Don’t you know that it’s wrong to hit girls?” 

“Why don’t you pick on us for a change,” Matt joined in, raising his green lightsaber. 

Turning its attention towards the boys, the creature moved away from Sora to get rid of these newcomers. With its back turned, Sora could see a black gear sticking out of its back. 

‘That’s the dark presence I felt within him,’ she realized. ‘It’s that gear. If I can destroy it, maybe it’ll calm him down.’ 

Using the distraction to her advantage, Sora got up from the ground and reactivated her lightsaber. Before the creature could turn around, she jumped and stuck the blade into the gear. It disappeared after a few seconds, causing the creature to let out a roar of pain before it settled down. 

“Thank you,” it turned to Sora. “That gear was driving me crazy. I was up on the mountain and then the last thing I remember was being hit by the gear.” 

She smiled. “No problem. Happy I could help, uh…” 

“Meramon is my name,” the creature replied. “And I am forever in your debt, Destined Jedi. I must go now.” 

Meramon walked off, going back towards the mountain that he had come from. 

“Sora, are you ok?” Tai asked as he and Matt ran over to her, their lightsabers deactivated. 

She nodded. “I’m fine. Hey, guys, did you hear that he called me a ‘Destined Jedi’?” 

“Yeah,” Matt nodded. “Wonder what that’s about.” 

Sora let out a ‘hm’ in curiosity. Is that what they called all humans that lived here? Or was it specifically tailored to just her? She guessed that they would all find out soon enough. 

“Alright, let’s head back to the lake. I found us some food,” she said, walking back into the oasis with Tai and Matt following her.


	6. The Automated Factory

The eight destined ones will rise…

That was all that was on the piece of parchment Izzy had found in the trolley car three days before. He examined it numerous times to try and make some sense out of it but came up short each and every time as they continued their journey across the mysterious island they were on. Was it part of a riddle? There was a part of it that was illegible so it very well could have been a riddle. 

It just hit him at that moment. If it was a riddle, then what was the important part? As he reread it, it sounded more and more like a prophecy. If only his computer was working, it could have given him some answers. Computers had always been Izzy’s first priority from a young age rather than people. He wasn’t interested in human interaction the way most of his peers were. He wasn’t afraid of people; he just didn’t like being involved with them. 

Especially when he didn’t even know who he was as a person and where he fit in the world. 

His classmates likewise ignored him and pretended he didn’t exist, which was just fine with Izzy because he enjoyed being alone with his computer as his only companion. 

Tai was one of the few exceptions. In school, he was required to choose a club and through pure luck of the draw chose the soccer club. At least he would be just one cog in the machine rather than standing out individually like in baseball so it made perfect sense. Another advantage with soccer was Izzy wouldn’t have to seek out interaction with others but Tai managed to win him over with that Kamiya charm that he had. If it hadn’t been for him, Izzy would not have come to summer camp at all. 

He didn’t pay attention as Mimi and TK collapsed to the ground from exhaustion, complaining about their feet hurting. Izzy pulled out his laptop in hopes that it would finally work this time. He could hear Matt and Tai make jokes about aliens and asking them to beam him up like Scotty in Star Trek, which caused the ten-year-old to roll his eyes in annoyance. He never liked Star Trek. 

Several seconds passed and Izzy’s computer still would not turn on. To make matters worse, the warranty had expired on his laptop so he couldn’t just trade in for another one. 

“Crud,” he muttered. “Still not working.” 

“Here, I’ve got an idea,” said Tai, taking the laptop from Izzy’s hands and smacking the back of the screen repeatedly. “You’ve just gotta give it some adjustments.” 

“Tai, you idiot!” Izzy snatched the computer away from him. “Are your brain cells malfunctioning?” 

Tai huffed indignantly. “Geez, you act like I’m hurting the dumb thing. What’s the big deal?” 

“Too bad your brain isn’t as big as your hair,” Sora snapped. 

Tai glared at her. “And what’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying I’m Ash Ketchum-level stupid?” 

“I think you know exactly what that means,” she retorted. 

“Then I guess that makes you Misty.” 

“Fine then. Maybe Izzy doesn’t want grimy fingerprints and dents all over his computer. Did you ever think of that?” 

Rather than answer, Tai turned aside with a huff and folded his arms across his chest. Something in the distance caught his eye; it looked like smoke rising from somewhere. For a second, he worried it could be a wildfire but the smoke wasn’t thick so that ruled that out. He ran to investigate. 

Izzy tried once more to get his laptop started and this time he was finally greeted by the beautiful sight of the company logo flashing across the screen. Soon everything was up and running like it was supposed to. 

“Yes!” he pumped a fist. “We’re operational!” 

His excitement was short-lived when the battery icon came up to show that his laptop was running on fumes. They needed to find a power source and fast. 

“Hey, guys!” Tai cried. “Come take a look at this.” 

Due to the tone of his voice, they all could tell that it was an urgent matter so they ran as fast as they could to join him. Standing over the edge of a cliff, they could see a fully operational factory down below. It reminded the kids of a nuclear power plant with its industrial look and billowing smoke stacks. 

“A factory?” Joe curiously wondered. “What do you suppose they manufacture in there?” 

“Not sure but let’s hope that it can provide a way home,” Matt said. “Maybe there are people in there who can help us.” 

Tai closed his eyes and used the Force to try and sense for any other life forms in the building. Sadly, he came up empty in that department. 

“I don’t sense anything besides us,” Tai sighed sadly. “Just great. Another wasted attempt at finding other natives besides these creatures we’ve encountered.” 

“I’m starting to think that there aren’t any humans here besides us,” Sora responded. “We haven’t found a single trace of them so far.” 

“Oh, poppycock,” Tai scoffed before using the Force to leap from the cliff to the ground below. The others cried out in worry but only heard a soft thud at the bottom. All they could see was Tai’s grinning face. 

“Well, don’t just stand there,” he called, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound of his voice. “Come on!” 

Joe and Mimi moved back in protest.

“No way!” Joe shook his head emphatically. “I’m not doing that!” 

“Me either,” Mimi agreed. 

Matt groaned with a roll of his eyes. He was growing really tired of their complaining, but they did have a fair point: It was dangerous for those who hadn’t tapped into their abilities yet. 

“Fine, we’ll take the path down.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the kids moved inside the factory, they couldn’t help but get the odd feeling that someone or something was watching them. The sounds of machinery operating and steam pumping out echoed throughout the entire factory. The lights were still on, which caused Mimi to joke about their electric bill, but it was completely abandoned. Not a single soul was there besides them. 

The group of kids moved quietly across the floor, the sounds of their feet making contact barely echoing through the empty factory. Just in case someone was tricking them into thinking they weren’t there, they needed to be quiet so they weren’t caught. They soon came across an operating conveyor belt that had what looked like a sewing machine on it with metal arms attached parts to it as it moved further down the line. 

“What do you think that is, Matt?” TK looked up at his brother curiously. 

“Not sure,” Matt shrugged. “Maybe parts for robots or space ships for all I care.” 

“Do you think there’s a cafeteria in this place?” Joe asked quietly. “I’m hungry and I could sure go for a good bowl of ramen right now.” 

Tai looked at him like he was crazy. “Joe, there’s nobody here. What makes you think there would be one?” 

“Just because no one’s here doesn’t mean that there aren’t people who work here,” the bespectacled boy retorted. “It’s worth a try.” 

As Tai thought about it more, the idea of splitting up to cover more ground appealed to him. Maybe then they could find some answers as to why they were in this world in the first place. 

“Ok,” he finally said. “Here’s the plan: We’ll split into two teams. Joe, Sora, you come with me to see if we can find anyone who may be evading our detection. The rest of you go off and see what else you can find.” 

The idea of splitting up caused Joe’s face to pale. “Do you really think that splitting up is a good idea, Tai? I think we should all stick together.” 

“What’s the matter, Joey? You afraid?” Tai smirked. 

Joe’s mind froze when he heard the name ‘Joey’. The others watched with a frightened expression as his face twisted into one of pure, unadulterated anger. Redness spread across his face like a flood and his tightly clenched fists shook. 

“Joey?” he seethed before roaring, “JOEY?! DON’T EVER CALL ME THAT!” 

Tai backed away a bit. “Jeez, Joe. Calm down.” 

“CALM DOWN?! CALM DOWN? I DON’T WANNA CALM DOWN!” 

SMACK! 

Joe touched the red imprint on his cheek, finally calming down from his exploding fit of anger. Sora stood with her hand out, showing she was the one who had slapped him. 

“Feel better now?” she asked, her hands resting on her hips with a lopsided grin. 

He nodded, holding his stinging cheek, and released a sigh. “Much.” 

“Good. Let’s go.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tai’s footsteps echoed as they stepped onto the grate floor, practically alerting anyone to their presence if Joe’s outburst hadn’t done the job already. Said boy and Sora stepped in time with him, hoping to find a trace of anyone who could help them make sense of this world. 

“Be on your guard, guys,” Tai whispered. “I have a feeling we need to be extremely careful.” 

Sora nodded. “Ok.” 

“Why are you whispering?” Joe asked, unsure why he was doing that. “We’re the only ones here.” 

“That’s just what they want us to think,” replied the goggle-headed boy with a sneaky tone to his voice, causing Joe and Sora to roll their eyes. 

“Who’s they?” she asked incredulously. 

Suddenly a loud crash echoed throughout the entire factory, which scared the kids out of their wits. Tai and Sora ignited their lightsabers to be instantly ready to take on whatever it was that was coming. After a tense silence that lasted for several seconds, they didn’t hear anything else and earned a sigh of relief from all three of them. Tai and Sora deactivated their lightsabers. 

“Wonder what that was,” said Tai. 

“I know, right?” Sora agreed. “Let’s go see.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

CRASH! 

Matt emerged through the open doorway, having just kicked down the large metal door with surprising strength. He guessed it had to do with his enhanced Jedi abilities, not that he was complaining or anything. Izzy, Mimi, and TK soon followed, with the computer genius’s attention being taken away by a magnificent sight: a giant battery. 

“Prodigious!” he exclaimed, a wide smile on his face. “A battery like that can run my computer forever!” 

“Keep your focus where it needs to be, Izzy,” Matt glared with annoyance. “We’re trying to find something that could help us.” 

“Maybe this can help us,” Izzy retorted. “If there is a way to access this battery’s power, then maybe I can find a way to help solve our predicament.” 

Matt snorted. “Maybe Tai’s right,” he said. “You do watch too many movies.” 

“Shut up,” snapped the ten-year-old as he examined the battery. After feeling around for an access panel, he finally found one and opened it. His eyes widened as he walked inside the interior of the battery, seeing all sorts of code in every language: English, Kanji, even a manuscript that he could not make out. 

“This is amazing!” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“What the heck happened to this guy?” Tai cocked an eyebrow in surprise at the sight before him. 

Lying on the floor in front of them was what looked like a robot, or even one of those androids that were in some of the more hardcore sci-fi movies. It had one mechanical leg and one of flesh but they were stuck in the gears, along with the rest of its lower body. The robot showed no signs of moving, which concerned the kids. 

“I don’t know, but I think we should help,” said Sora. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Joe replied cautiously, getting a nervous feeling from his read of the situation. “What if he tries to kill us when we help him? I’ve seen movies like this a bunch of times where robots turn on the humans.” 

Tai scoffed. “You and Izzy have the same problem,” he chuckled. “You guys watch too many movies. Stuff like that doesn’t happen in real life. Now come on and give me a hand here.” 

Taking an arm, Tai pulled with as much strength as he could to try and pull the fallen robot free from the gears. No matter how hard he tried, though, it would not budge. Sora then lent a hand but they were met with the same results. 

“He’s just too heavy,” she sighed. 

Tai had an idea. “Here, let me try.” 

Raising his arm and focusing on the gears, the sun symbol on his arm glowed a faint orange as he used the Force to influence them to start moving. Instantly, they started to move. After watching with utter fascination for a moment, Joe and Sora immediately started to pull the robot out from under the gears. Unbeknownst to them, a black gear had dropped into its leg as they pulled it out. 

Now that it was free, the robot began stirring as it tried to regain consciousness. Tai decided to speed the process along by giving a couple smacks for a jumpstart but Joe and Sora read his mind and stopped him before he could do that. 

Its eyes then opened. “I am Andromon,” it said in a monotone, robotic voice that reminded Tai of the Terminator. 

Without warning, Andromon grabbed Sora by the leg and hung her upside down, causing her to yelp in surprise before struggling to break free from his grip. 

“Hey! Put her down!” Tai roared as he used the Force to throw a nearby piece of scrap metal into the android’s shoulder. It then tossed her directly into Tai’s mid-section, cushioning her landing as they fell to the ground. 

“You ok, Sora?” 

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s take this guy down.” 

Tai widely grinned at her suggestion, igniting his lightsaber. She also did the same. Joe stood a few feet back from the fight, obviously not wanting to get involved even if he could. 

“Must…destroy…alien intruders,” said Andromon, moving closer to the two children. 

Tai then noticed that Andromon was standing right under a series of girders, which gave him an idea. Withdrawing his lightsaber, he used the Force to bring them crashing down on top of the android. The three of them then dashed off without a moment to lose, knowing that it wouldn’t keep Andromon down for long. 

They didn’t even pay attention to where they were going as they ran. For all they cared, they could be going in circles and it wouldn’t matter. They just didn’t want to have to run into Andromon again. As Tai and the others turned down a corridor, the lights suddenly went out. Joe gave a yelp in fright as the power shut down. 

“We’re doomed!” he shrieked. “Dying in eternal darkness is our fate!” 

“Relax, Joe,” said Sora as she ignited her lightsaber to provide them with some light. Another ignition indicated that Tai thought of the same idea. 

The sound of groans could be heard behind them. For a second, Tai thought it was Frankenstein’s monster based on how guttural the groans sounded but knew it was the android. 

“Come on,” he mouthed. “Be very quiet.” 

“Can you explain to me why we’re sneaking away rather than running for our lives?” Joe quietly demanded before being hushed by Sora. 

“Lightning Blade!” its voice came with the sound of electricity moving towards them. 

‘So much for sneaking away!’ Tai’s eyes widened as the attack neared them. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Whoops. Didn’t mean for that to happen.” Izzy chuckled lightheartedly. He had accidentally erased a part of the code on a wall he had been inspecting. Taking out a marker he had in his bag, he replaced the erased portion and the lights came back on in the factory. 

“And then there was light,” he snickered to himself before returning to typing away on his laptop. He was so close to solving the mystery of this island that he could taste it. It just now occurred to him that the reason this factory was running on nothing but pure energy was because the data it took to power it was practically alive. 

‘But from what source?’ he thought as his fingers typed like they had minds of their own, almost as if they were a detached part of his body. 

A spark went off in Izzy’s mind. What if there was a central life force in this world that influenced every action and their consequences? There was hardly any other explanation other than bigger powers were definitely at work here. The question to him was what he should call it. 

‘Laser swords, strange abilities,’ he contemplated, remembering his burst of speed in the forest while he and Tai were running from the beetle on their first day in this world and all the things Matt and Tai were able to do when their symbols glowed. 

“That’s it!” Izzy snapped his fingers before rolling up his sleeve to reveal the symbol on his arm. It was two circles with the right one being larger than the other and connected by a straight line. 

‘These symbols of ours must be connected to this energy,’ he realized. ‘Which explains our abilities and why they glow.’ 

“How very observant of you.” 

Izzy jumped. The sudden entry of the voice startled him so much that he nearly dropped his laptop. 

“Who said that?” he responded. “Matt, is that you? TK? Mimi?” 

“It was not them, whoever they are,” the voice replied. “It was I.” 

Izzy then realized that the voice was not coming externally, but rather from inside his head. 

‘And who are you?’ 

“I am that I am, Izzy.” 

‘How do you know my name? What’s yours, mysterious voice in my head?’ 

“That is privileged information for now, Izzy, but you will know soon enough. You’re smart enough that you can figure it out. What are you doing?” 

The ten-year-old did not know how to react to this situation. For a second, he thought he was losing his mind due to hearing voices in his head. 

“You are not losing your mind, Izzy.” 

‘Don’t listen in on my thoughts!’ Izzy admonished as he continued typing away on his laptop. ‘I’m trying to understand how we came to this world and what forces are at work here. This world must rely on a central life force because whenever I close my eyes, it feels like everything on this island is speaking to me as though it were all a live being.’ 

The voice in his head let out a chuckle. “How right you are, Izzy. That is the Force you are sensing. Everything on this island and in this world is connected to the living Force. That is how I am able to communicate with you right now.”

‘But isn’t that just in science fiction? I mean…I can’t say that I don’t enjoy Star Wars every once in a while but I know that stuff is not real.’ 

“What’s Star Wars?” 

Izzy smacked his hand over his eyes and dragged it down his face in exasperation. He had to keep working. 

‘Never mind. I’ve got work to do.’

“Is there something you’re not telling me, Izzy? Your thoughts betray you. I can sense your insecurity. Is there a reason for that?” 

That comment caused Izzy to freeze. His mind went back to one night when he overheard his parents talking after he had gotten up to use the bathroom. They were talking about him and whether he should know “the truth” about him. The incident cut a deep emotional scar on the young boy’s psyche and drifted him towards computers rather than people. 

“Izzy? Izzy? Are you still there?” 

This shook Izzy from his catatonic state. 

‘Yeah, I’m still here. I’m about to abandon my alien theory entirely based on what you just told me.’ 

“I must go now. Your friends are in trouble. Can you feel it?” 

Come to think of it, Izzy did feel a disturbance in the energy within him at that moment. Something was definitely wrong. 

‘Yes,’ he replied. 

“Then go to them. I look forward to meeting you in my physical body soon, Izzy. May the Force be with you.” 

‘Wait!’ 

But the voice was gone just like that. Izzy packed away his laptop and ran out of the battery towards where he felt the disturbance coming from. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Guys!”

Matt, TK, and Mimi turned around from their view on the terrace to see Izzy running towards them. While he had been occupied with his business, the rest of them decided to look around the factory. What they found was that the entire place was built on perpetual motion; nothing leaves and simply gets built and taken apart again and again. 

“Izzy!” Matt greeted. 

“You will never guess what I just discovered,” said the computer genius. “This factory runs on a computer program that keeps it going.” 

Matt and Mimi gave him incredulous looks. What else would he tell them that they already knew? 

Izzy groaned, realizing they weren’t getting it. 

“That’s not all,” he continued. “I found out that a central life force connects everything in this world together. That explains why your symbol glows any time you use your powers, Matt. These symbols are what connect us to that life force.” 

“This whole thing makes my head spinny,” Mimi replied, confused beyond recognition by his explanations. 

“But it makes sense,” Matt countered. “How else would they glow? It also explains why I heard that voice the other day.” 

Izzy’s ears perked up. “You heard a voice too?” 

“Yeah I did. Are you telling me that you heard a voice while you were in the battery?” 

Izzy nodded. “It told me that it is because of this life force that it was able to communicate with me. We share a telepathic link it would seem.” 

“Does that mean I’ll be hearing voices too?” Mimi asked, interested by this piece of information. 

“It’s certainly possible.” 

“What about me?” TK bounced excitedly. “Do you think that’ll happen with me too?” 

Matt smiled softly at his brother’s enthusiasm. “Anything can happen, squirt,” he said. “We’ll just have to see.” 

“GUYS!” 

They all turned to see Tai, Sora, and Joe running towards them. Their faces were pale, as though they had seen a ghost and were running from it. 

“We’ve got to get out of here!” Tai cried. “Otherwise it’s gonna get us!” 

“What’s going to get you?” Izzy asked. 

Before Tai could answer his question, a portion of the floor in the middle of the terrace collapsed, separating the two parties from each other. Andromon then emerged from the floor. 

“Hostilities detected,” it said, staring directly at Matt and the others. “Must eliminate.” 

Its chest plate dropped to reveal cannons that were primed and ready to fire at them. 

“Guys, get behind me!” Matt instructed as he activated his green lightsaber. 

Andromon then fired the missiles towards them. Mimi and Izzy immediately ran away while Matt jumped out of the way with impressive acrobatics, which left poor TK in firing range! 

“Matt, help!” the young boy cried as the missiles closed in on him. 

Matt quickly acted and used the Force to push them away from his brother, sending them into each other. He looked back at him. 

“You okay?” 

TK nodded, still shaken from that experience. Matt then turned his attention towards Andromon. 

“Who dares to challenge Andromon?” it said. 

“I do,” Matt replied, lifting his lightsaber in a fighting position. 

Tai and Sora ignited their lightsabers as well. 

“Count us in,” said Tai. 

Matt nodded with a confident smile and charged towards the android with a cry of determination. Andromon seemed to have anticipated the attack because Matt ended up with a foot in his chest, knocking him to the ground. Tai tried to use the distraction to his advantage but was pushed aside with a swipe of Andromon’s arm, leaving Sora alone to fight. 

Before she could take a turn striking it, Andromon reached behind itself to reveal an electro-staff and activated it. Hearing the electricity surging through the ends of the staff, Sora mustered up her courage to charge towards it. Sparks flew as laser met electricity every time the two would parry the other’s strikes. Despite its’ large size, Andromon was very agile and quick to react to her attacks. 

Izzy sat back and watched all of this with fascination. He knew that it was his responsibility to look after the others while Tai, Matt, and Sora fought but he could tell that Andromon was on a completely different level than them. He had to do something. 

‘If only there was a way I could help them.’ 

A faint purple glow started to make its presence known and Izzy knew that it was his symbol. He looked around for something he could use to distract the android with and found a barrel shaking next to him. Looking between the symbol on his arm and the barrel, Izzy deducted that the barrel was reacting to it. Stretching out his hand, it lifted from the ground. Izzy didn’t stop to enjoy the moment because he knew that he had to help the others, so he swept his hand towards Andromon and the barrel flew towards it. 

Sora was in a saber lock with Andromon but it was quickly overpowering her. Just as she thought it would shock her with one of the ends of the staff, a metal barrel clanged against the android’s back, pushing it forward from the impact, which allowed Sora to escape. 

“Hey, you!” Izzy cried, standing in front of Andromon this time. “You want someone new to pick on, let it be me.” 

“Alien life form. Must destroy!” Andromon cried, twirling its staff in an intimidating manner. 

Izzy took his lightsaber from his belt and activated it. Like Matt, his blade too was a bright green. The two sized each other up for several seconds before Andromon swooped in to attack. Izzy dodged as it pushed one of the electric ends in towards his face and wrestled with the android for grip. Due to its robotic build, Andromon was able to take the staff from Izzy’s grip, but not before one end collided with its leg, emitting a cry of pain from the android. 

The two weapons were a blur as the two ferociously attacked each other. Izzy’s lighsaber was a whirlwind of green while sparks flew from Andromon’s staff whenever they collided. As things settled down, Izzy noticed that its leg started sparking. 

Maybe that’s where its power comes from,’ he thought, breathing heavily from the whole ordeal. ‘If I can just strike through it, I should be able to shut it down.’ 

Andromon must have sensed that Izzy was tiring out because it came harder than it had before. When it went for a strike, Izzy dodged and stuck his lightsaber right through its right leg. The android roared in pain as a black gear came out of its leg and disappeared right away. 

‘Another gear,’ Izzy observed. ‘That’s the second one we’ve encountered so far. I wonder what those are about.’ 

After a few moments, Andromon seemed to have calmed down because it stood motionless. The kids weren’t sure whether this was a good or bad thing until it approached them. 

“Thank you for saving me, Destined Jedi,” it said. “I’m sorry for all the damage I’ve caused. I’m normally a non-violent Digimon.” 

“Digimon, is that what you creatures call yourselves?” Izzy asked. 

“And why do you call us the ‘Destined Jedi?’” Sora also asked, remembering being called that by Meramon too. 

“Yes, Digimon is what we are,” replied Andromon, answering Izzy’s question before turning to Sora. “It is part of a prophecy that humans will come to the Digital World and bring peace to it. Those humans are called the Destined Jedi.” 

Izzy then reached into his shirt pocket for the piece of parchment. He opened it and read the words written on the page. Now it all made sense. 

“The eight destined ones will rise,” he read. “Now it all makes sense. But hold on, there’s only seven of us so the prophecy is not yet complete.” 

“Why us?” Matt asked. “Why were we chosen?” 

“That I cannot answer.” 

Tai then stepped up to speak. “That’s great and all but how do we get out of here, Andromon?” 

“That I can show you,” it said, turning to walk back into the factory. The kids soon followed. 

Eventually Andromon led them to a sewer pipe. Mimi cried out in disgust at the sight of it while the others merely squirmed. Going into a sewer was not their idea of an escape plan but it was better than nothing. 

“Follow the path and you will be free,” said Andromon. “May the Force be with you, Destined Jedi.” 

“Thank you,” everyone thanked as they entered the pipe.


	7. Climbing Infinity Mountain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys have been enjoying the story so far. I'm going to try to post one or two chapters a day because it's already done. I finished this story a year ago.

Joe Kido held his arms close to his body as the ice cold winds blew against him. His exposed arms were dotted with goose bumps and started to shake. He rubbed them up and down to try and generate some warmth but it was useless. Looking around, he could see that with the exception of Mimi and TK, who were dressed a bit more appropriately for the cold, everyone else was feeling the chill as well. 

‘This is crazy!’ he groaned. ‘How could this have happened?’ 

To think that he was planning on being stuck in cram school all summer. That plan went up in smoke the minute his mom came to him about going on the school camping trip. He didn’t want to but she guilt tripped him enough that he finally relented to it. His father even backed her up on it, which surprised Joe because it was his dad who pushed him to do extra classes during the summer. He desperately wanted to get into a good middle school so he needed to take extra time to study for his entrance exams. 

Joe knew he wanted to be a doctor. His father was one; his mother was a nurse; and his two older brothers were pre-med students so he was destined to follow in their footsteps. His father had made that clear with him since he could walk and talk. There was so much pressure put on him that sometimes he wondered if his parents even loved him. 

“So what’s the deal with this eighth child, Izzy?” he heard Tai ask the computer genius. 

“Obviously there needs to be eight of us so that the prophecy can be fulfilled,” Izzy replied. “It’s important that we find this eighth child as soon as possible. They could be here in the Digital World at this very moment.” 

“But how would we look for them?” Matt asked. “We don’t even know where to start.” 

Izzy shrugged. “You’ve got me.” 

The kids were currently walking through a forest not unlike the one they were in when they first came to the Digital World after finally escaping the sewer. During the walk, they talked about how much they missed being home and wanted to go back. They were going on four days of being in the Digital World and wondered if anyone was searching for them back home. All this talk made Joe depressed. 

“It’s so cold,” he shivered. 

“Yeah but think on the positive side of things,” Sora said, putting a smile on her face even though she was just as cold. “It might even snow.” 

“Wouldn’t that be something,” Tai chuckled. “We’d finally get to have some fun.” 

“Are you serious?” Joe chastised, not understanding why they think snow would be a good thing. “It would be horrible if it started snowing. If it does get colder, then we can’t camp out anymore. We would probably freeze to death.” 

Matt and Tai scoffed, which only made Joe’s mood even worse. 

“Scoff all you want,” he rolled his eyes. “But when you’re freezing your butts off, don’t come crying to me. I’ll just say I told you so. It’s always better to be safe than sorry. Think first, that’s my motto.” 

Tai clapped a hand on his shoulder with a chuckle. “You sure are a piece of work, Joey.” 

“Don’t call me Joey!” 

Everyone laughed at Joe’s furious expression. He looked like a tick about to pop and provided some much-needed comic relief to get their minds off of how cold it was.

Continuing their journey, it wasn’t long before they came across a field covered in white, which they noticed to be snow. Mimi and TK ran into it immediately to frolic in the frozen field while the others thought up a plan on what to do next. 

“I say we move across the field,” said Tai. “There’s no other way around it.” 

“But if we do, our toes will go numb,” countered Matt. “We need to find another way.” 

“Oh yeah, what do you suggest we do?” 

Matt tried to think of something but couldn’t seem to come up with anything, causing Tai to smirk in victory. Joe was not going to have it anymore for his worst fears had been confirmed. 

“Matt’s right. It’s impossible to continue on at this rate,” he said. 

Tai rolled his eyes before pointing to the looming mountain behind them. “Look, it’s either cross the field or go up the mountain. Be my guest and pick your poison.” 

Unbeknownst to him, Sora was molding a snowball in her gloved hands before throwing it at him while his back was turned. Tai sensed something coming his way and ducked before the snowball could collide with his head. He turned with a teasing smile on his face. 

“Attacking a man with his back turned,” he smirked. “How much more cowardly can you get, Sora?” 

Using the Force, he formed a snowball of his own and Force threw it at her, hitting her in the shoulder. Soon the whole thing escalated into an all-out snowball fight between Tai, Sora, and Matt. It had been a while since they were able to have fun so it was great to get it out of their system for just a few moments. As Tai tried to hit Matt with a snowball, he missed and it hit Joe on the shoulder instead. 

“Ow!” he cried, grabbing his shoulder. “Stop it!” 

Tai glared at him. “You know, you don’t know how to have fun, Joe. You need to learn how to relax for a change rather than be stiff all the time.” 

“I am not!”

“Are too!” 

They continued this back and forth for several moments until a faint sulfuric smell hit their noses. Sniffing the air to determine the source of the smell, they saw a column of steam rising from the tree line to their right. If their hunch was right, that could only mean one thing. 

“A HOT SPRING!!” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“So much for that,” Tai said sadly as he watched the water boil. 

The smell was indeed hot springs but they were far too hot for the kids to take a dip into. They may as well call themselves cooked chicken if they were to take the plunge. 

"Aw! And I was looking forward to a hot bath!" Mimi whined, plopping herself down on her butt and drawing her knees into her chest. "I hate this place! One minute it's burning hot, the other I'm freezing my toes off. I'm starving so bad my tummy's in knots, and my hair's frizzy. A girl cannot maintain her beauty with all these changes and having to deal with monsters! I WANT TO GO HOME!"

“MIMI, SHUT UP! YOU’RE GIVING ME A HEADACHE!” Joe screamed at the top of his lungs. Everyone watched in dead silence as Joe heaved to try and get his breath back after that explosion. Once he seemed to have calmed down enough, he took a deep breath and assumed a calm demeanor. 

After a tense few seconds, Mimi’s lip trembled until she couldn’t hold it back anymore and started crying. Her wails could be heard from miles around as she cried her eyes out. 

“Well done, Joe,” Sora snapped with a glare as she moved to comfort the sobbing girl. “I hope you’re proud of yourself.” 

To make matters worse, the rest of them suddenly realized how hungry they were. All of their emergency food supply had been eaten by now so the group needed to find something that they could eat. 

“Lookit!” TK cried over Mimi’s sobs, pointing towards something. 

Joe followed the young boy’s finger and what he saw caused his face to fall in disbelief, his glasses slipping down his nose. 

“Tell me I’m not imagining this,” he said in shock, wondering if his mind was just playing tricks on him or if the heat from the hot springs was melting his brain. 

Tai looked to see what he was talking about. Once he saw what Joe and TK saw, he gave a victorious cry and wrapped an arm ferociously around Joe’s neck. 

“It’s for real!” 

“Aw, come on, man,” Joe whimpered. “That’s ridiculous.” 

A large green refrigerator stood in the middle of the clearing. To say that the kids were surprised would have been an understatement. It wasn’t every day that refrigerators popped up in the middle of clearings. 

“What would a refrigerator be doing way out here?” Joe couldn’t get over his shock. How was something like this even possible? 

The other kids didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth so they decided to check out what was in the fridge, despite Joe’s constant warnings that whatever could be in there would likely be spoiled since it was not connected to any power source. 

“Man, look at all these eggs!” Tai cried as he opened the fridge. “These will get us by for a month at least!” 

“Hold on,” Joe replied nervously. “Those don’t belong to us! I know we’re all hungry but that doesn’t mean we should resort to stealing!” 

Everyone else looked at him like he had lobsters crawling out of his ears. 

“It’s either that or we starve to death,” Matt said with a roll of his eyes, just about reaching the end of his rope with Joe. “Take your pick.” 

“Besides, whoever owns this would likely say we can have some.” Sora quipped. 

“Exactly,” Izzy joined in. “We’d tell them that it’s an emergency situation.” 

“Rationalize away, Joey K.” Tai teased. 

‘Damn it, why do they always have to coerce me into these things?’ Joe groaned to himself. ‘It makes me feel like I’m getting away with murder.’ 

Knowing he was not going to convince them otherwise, Joe decided to let sleeping dogs lie and relented. He was hungry and needed some food in his stomach, which won over his better judgment and principles. 

“Fine,” he growled. “But someone has to have a good head on their shoulders. Without me, you guys would be in a world of trouble right now.” 

“Jeez, Joe, what is with you?” Matt retorted. “You’ve been nothing but a complete basket case all day.” 

“I am just trying to be careful, unlike the rest of you weirdoes!” 

“Why I oughta…” 

“Enough!” Sora ended the argument. The veins in her neck stood out as she yelled at them. She was getting really tired of having to end arguments. “Now let’s get these eggs ready to eat. No more fighting for the rest of the time. You got that?” 

They both nodded their heads in understanding. Everyone else then broke away to help start cooking the eggs for dinner, except for Joe; he stayed back and skipped rocks across a spring silently. His silence carried through all of dinner. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Aw, come on! It’s the best we can do! We’ve got no choice!” 

“It’s too dangerous, Tai! None of us will be able to make it up that peak.” 

Joe watched as Tai and Matt argued over what their next plan of action should be. Tai was trying to convince Matt that they should climb up the mountain but Matt thought they should play it safe and try something else. 

“It’s the best view of the island,” Tai shot. “We would be able to see everything from up there.” 

“The risks outweigh the benefits,” Matt retorted. “We need to sit down and think for a bit. Maybe the Force will guide us towards a better way.” 

“Oh, so you’re depending on some mystical thing to guide us,” Tai chuckled with a roll of his eyes. “That’s a laugh.” 

“Well, do you have anything else for us?”

“I think you know where I stand.” 

“Don’t raise your fists at me! You can’t push me around into doing anything you want.” 

Joe couldn’t take this arguing any longer and decided to intervene. 

“Guys, come on. Stop fighting,” he said calmly. “Let’s be sensible here.” 

“So what do you think about this, Joe?” Matt asked, hoping he could sway Joe to his side. “Who has the better idea: me or Tai?” 

Joe tensed up as he was put on the spot. He never was someone who liked confrontation, rather he preferred avoiding it at all costs. Unfortunately, since he had been in the Digital World, he’d been forced to stop one too many fights than he would have liked. 

“Um…I…uh…” he stuttered, trying to come up with an answer. “Tai does have a good point in that if we get to the top of the mountain, we would be able to see the whole island.” 

“Ha!” Tai cried victoriously, thinking that Joe was siding with him. 

“Hold on,” Joe held up a finger before he could get too excited. “Matt also made a good point. It would be irresponsible of us to go up to a place we don’t know that much about. For all we know, there could be more monsters up there and we wouldn’t have any way to defend ourselves.” 

“Oh, so you’re saying we can’t defend ourselves with these?” Tai snapped, shoving his lightsaber in Joe’s face. “You have one too, Joe. Use it!” 

“I would prefer not to,” Joe retorted, looking down at the lightsaber on his belt. “I’ll leave that to someone like you or Matt since you guys enjoy fighting so much.” 

“We’re not fully trained, Tai, so we can’t handle every situation that we come across,” Matt reminded. “I know that just because you have a lightsaber and Force powers, you think you can do anything, but you can’t.” 

“Guys, let’s not be difficult here!” Joe’s voice raised another octave as his face started turning red in irritation. “We can come to a clear consensus if we just talk it out.”

“That’s rich coming from you,” Matt scoffed incredulously, turning his ire to Joe. “You are the most difficult person I have ever met.” 

“Don’t be a wuss, Matt,” Tai re-entered the conversation, feeling as though he was being ignored. 

“Take that back, Tai!” 

“ENOUGH! YOU’RE GIVING ME A HEADACHE!” 

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! 

All three boys reeled back from being slapped across the cheeks at the same time. Sora glared at them with flaming red eyes. 

“Put a cork in it, you three,” she snapped, her demeanor reminding them of facing an angry mother. “Now let’s settle down. We need to find somewhere we can sleep for the night.” 

The three boys, shocked, lowered their faces, their eyes darting side to side from the embarrassment. Silence reined heavily as the sting on their cheeks humbled them until Izzy spoke.

“How about we try the caves we saw?” he suggested. “At least we would have some shelter.” 

“Good thinking, Izzy,” Sora nodded before taking Tai and Matt by the hands and leading them away from Joe before they could try to start anything. Mimi and TK soon followed, which left Joe all by himself in shock. 

‘Well that sure went well,’ he groaned to himself with a roll of his eyes. ‘Instead of breaking up the fight, I got into it myself. Smooth move, Joe.’ 

He then quickly followed before they got too far ahead of him. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Joe couldn’t sleep as he recalled the events from earlier. While everyone else was comfortably asleep, he couldn’t stop tossing and turning for an hour. It was driving him crazy. 

“You have a lightsaber too, Joe! Use it!” Tai’s words echoed in his head. 

‘He’s right. I do have one but I don’t know what to do with it. I can’t let this keep going on. We have to find a way back home and I’m going to be the one to get us there. I’m the responsible one in this group.’ 

He looked at the yellow wristbands on his arms, which signified him as a group leader at camp. After all that had gone on over these past four days, he felt undeserving of them. 

Knowing he was not going to rest peacefully at all until he did what he needed to do, he stood to his feet. He was going to make it up to the mountain peak if it was the last thing he did.

Joe scribbled a little note in the sand letting everyone else know that he would be back later and walked out of the cave into the cool night air. The stars twinkled overhead and clouds swirled near the peak of the mountain, creating a picture perfect atmosphere for a night like tonight. Before he could set off towards the mountain path, a yawn stopped him from moving. 

“Joe?” Mimi yawned, rubbing her eyes as they adjusted to the darkness. “What are you doing up?” 

Joe didn’t want to drag anyone else along so he thought of an off-putting explanation to give to her. 

“No reason,” he shrugged. “Just gonna go for a walk.” 

“Not up that mountain I hope,” she replied. “It’s too dangerous for you to go alone.” 

“You’re not my mom!” he snapped. “Go back to sleep. I’m doing this alone.” 

Mimi stepped back a bit in fear at him raising his voice. A guilty look then crossed his face, remembering his outburst before dinner. 

“Look, I’m sorry about earlier,” he said softly, trying his best to give her a smile. “It was out of line and I shouldn’t have done it. I’m just as high-strung as you are and don’t know what to do either so I’m doing something about it. It’s my responsibility to keep you guys safe.” 

She pondered his words for a few moments. As she examined herself, she realized she had been doing an awful lot of complaining lately and not very much to help the group. After all, Mimi was never the adventurous type; she preferred her life the way it was and didn’t ask for much else, which was just fine with her. All of a sudden being thrown into this other world and having to fight monsters was a lot to handle. She had something to prove not only to the others, but to herself as well. 

“Then I’m going with you,” she finally said. 

Joe immediately shot it down. “No. It’s too risky. I don’t care about my own safety as much as I do your own.” 

“Then I’ll be the one to look out for your safety,” Mimi retorted with a tone that told him that she was not going to change her mind about this. 

With a groan, Joe relented. “Fine.” 

“Yippee!” she cried in glee, before covering her mouth when she realized she had said it a little too loud. She then gave a much quieter “yay” before she and Joe started their journey up the mountain. 

Joe had always prided himself on being a good climber. In fact, one of his dreams when he was younger was to climb Mt. Everest someday but he grew out of it eventually, telling himself that it was an unrealistic goal. This was the closest he was going to get to living that dream. With Mimi trailing him step for step, he felt more at peace than at any other moment that they were in the Digital World. 

For the next half-hour, the two of them hiked uneventfully through the mountain trails. Going across log bridges, steep ledges, and inverted paths was proving to be murder on their legs since the two of them never really worked out that much. 

“How much further?” Mimi asked, bending over with her hands on her knees in exhaustion and gasping for breath as they stopped for a break. “This is taking forever.” 

“It shouldn’t be that much further, Mimi,” Joe assured her. “Just hold out for me a little longer.”

“I don’t know if I can!” 

“Yes you can,” he encouraged. “You just have to believe that you can do it. Besides, I’m right here if you need me.” 

Hesitantly, she nodded her head and the two continued on without incident. The wind blew through the cliffs with a howl, giving Joe the unsettling feeling that something on the mountain was watching them. They needed to be extra careful if they were going to make it to the peak before sunup. 

A loud rumbling soon surged through the entire mountain trail, causing everything around them to start shaking. Mimi screamed in fright as she wrapped her arms around Joe’s torso. The shaking stopped after what was five seconds but felt like five hours for Joe and Mimi. 

“What was that?” she whimpered in fear. 

Joe looked overhead to see a small group of black gears flying out from the side of the mountain just a few meters away from them. 

“Well at least we know where those black gears come from,” he lightly chuckled, trying to keep the mood light even though he was scared out of his mind. 

“Geez, can you believe this guy?”

“Behave!”

“Ow!”

Joe heard a smack somewhere but that was the least of his concerns. What were those voices that he had heard? He wasn’t going crazy, was he? 

‘No, Joe, you’re not going crazy. You’re hearing me loud and clear.’ 

Joe yelped in fright, realizing that he had indeed heard that voice. In his twelve years of life, he had never seen anything close to this, which was saying something considering all he had seen over the last few days. 

‘Who are you? What are you?’ he demanded. 

“I am the voice in your head sent to drive you crazy,” the voice then laughed for a few seconds. “I’m just kidding. Call me a friend.” 

‘Uh, ok,’ Joe thought about this for a moment. Hearing voices was usually not a good sign but it sounded friendly enough. Maybe it could help them. 

“Joe, are you ok?” Mimi asked, wondering what was going on with him. 

“Y-yeah, Mimi,” he nodded. “I’m fine.” 

“You have to pardon my friend. He can’t control himself sometimes,’ came another voice, this time for Mimi. “It’s nice to finally communicate with you, Mimi. I have been waiting for this for a long time.” 

‘This is probably what Tai and the others were talking about,’ Mimi thought before answering the voice. ‘Um…it’s nice to meet you? What’s your name?’ 

“I’m sorry but I can’t reveal that right now. You’ll find out soon enough.” 

‘Why?’ 

“Because that is what we have been told.” 

Mimi cocked an eyebrow in surprise. ‘There are more of you?’ 

“Yes.” 

“Boy, she’s sure taking this better than Mr. Frantic over here,” came the other voice with a snide tone. “You would not believe some of the things he’s thinking about.” 

“Don’t listen in on his thoughts! That’s rude.” 

“Oh, whatever.” 

It then returned to Mimi. “Sorry about him. He loves joking around and he’s been waiting to do this with Joe for a long time.” 

‘It’s…ok,’ Mimi responded, unsure of how to react to this situation. ‘Why did the both of you wait until now to reveal yourselves? Why didn’t you do that sooner?’ 

“We wanted to, but Gennai wouldn’t let us.” 

‘Who’s Gennai?’ she wondered curiously. 

“You’ll find out soon. He’s waiting for you. Goodbye, Mimi. I look forward to seeing you soon.” 

And just like that, the voices ceased. Joe and Mimi looked at each other speechless, unsure of how to register what happened. Joe cleared his throat, breaking the silence, before beginning their journey again. 

“Okay! Uh, a little further. This way.” 

“Right-right behind you,” Mimi stammered, following him. 

The two continued for another hour before coming across a waterfall cascading down the mountainside. After taking a much-needed drink of water, they evaluated how much further they needed to go before they reached the top of the mountain. The sun was beginning to rise in the sky, cascading the entire island in a flood of sunlight. 

A neigh from above caused them to look toward the sky. Joe squinted his eyes and put his hand over them to create some shade for him to get a better look at what was coming. What he saw was a flying horse with a red mask over its face. Not wanting to take a chance to see if this creature was friendly or not, he and Mimi hid in a nearby cave to observe the horse. 

To their surprise, the horse didn’t seem like it was interested in them. It flew down towards the waterfall and lapped up the water in its muzzle. 

“I don’t think it knows we’re here,” Joe whispered quietly. 

“Aw, he’s so cute,” Mimi gushed. “Just like a real horse.” 

“Mimi, now’s not the time for this kind of thing. We need to keep moving.” 

“But…” 

Before Mimi could continue, a loud whizzing sound echoed throughout the mountain. The horse stopped taking a drink and looked towards the sky, its ears standing at attention at the sound. Suddenly, before any of them knew what happened, the horse gave a cry of pain as a black gear stuck itself in its back. 

“This doesn’t look good,” Joe whimpered as the horse then turned towards them with malicious intent. 

“RUN!!”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sora let out a loud yawn and threw her arms up in the air as she woke up. Everyone else around her was still fast asleep as she rubbed her eyes and got up from her curled up position on the cave floor, ready to face a new day. 

As her mind became more cognizant, she noticed that Mimi and Joe were gone. 

‘That’s odd,’ she thought. ‘Wonder where they could be.’ 

“Mimi? Joe?” she called as she walked outside of the cave. “Where are you?’ 

A note in the sand by her foot drew her attention. 

I’ll be back in a little while. Please wait for me. –Joe 

It took a second for Sora to realize what just happened. Joe was planning on climbing the mountain and Mimi must have gone along with him. This was not good. 

“Everybody, wake up!” she yelled into the cave. “We have an emergency here!” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“SOMEBODY HELP!” Mimi screamed as she and Joe ran from the horse, running harder than she ever had in her young life. 

An explosion came from behind them, sending them flying to their fronts on the ground. The ground below them rumbled as the horse’s hooves stumbled towards them, ready to finish them off. 

“What do we do, Joe?” Mimi demanded as she clung to Joe’s shirt. 

“I’m thinking. I’m thinking,” he replied, just as frightened as she was. 

“Well do it fast! It’s right on top of us!” 

Joe didn’t know it but the symbol on his arm was starting to glow a subtle grey. He was the responsible one so he needed to find a way to protect Mimi and get them out of this situation. Just then, the horse unleashed a ball of energy from its maw that collided with the side of the mountain. To his and Mimi’s horror, it brought an avalanche of rocks tumbling down toward them. The two of them closed their eyes and braced themselves for the inevitable collision. 

But it never came. 

Opening his eyes hesitantly, Joe saw the rocks above them floating in mid-air. The glow from the symbol on his arm was bright enough to be noticed this time, cluing him into what was happening. 

His eyes widened in realization. He was using the Force! Putting off the celebration of this realization, he gestured his hand to the side so that the rocks fell away from them. His attention then turned to the lightsaber on his waist. 

‘It’s time,’ he thought as he took it in his hand and activated it. 

The blade was a piercing blue, a much lighter one than what Tai’s and Sora’s were. With his newfound courage and activated saber, Joe got into a defensive stance as the horse moved towards them. 

“Mimi, get behind me,” he ordered. “I’ll protect you.” 

She followed his orders without hesitation, not wanting to get caught in the crosshairs of this fight. 

Noticing the gear protruding out of the horse’s back, Joe began to think of a plan. If he could just destroy the gear, then the horse would go back to normal. There was nowhere else to run; they were caught between a rock and a hard place right now. 

‘This is crazy!’ he gritted his teeth and exhaled sharply before letting out a determined yell from the depths of his soul and jumped higher than he ever had before. 

The horse was so surprised by this turn of events that it didn’t have time to react before Joe wrapped his arms around the gear. He desperately tried to pull it out but it wouldn’t budge, earning a cry of pain from the creature beneath him as the gear shifted around in its back. He tried moving his lightsaber to a good angle so that he could destroy the gear but the horse then started bucking like a bronco as it lifted into the air. Due to the sudden motion, he let go of his lightsaber and watched as it fell to the ground below. 

‘Now I know how cowboys feel at a rodeo,’ Joe thought as he was tossed and thrown around on its back but he did not let go. 

“Joe, get out of there!” Mimi cried. “You’re gonna get hurt!” 

“I have to do this, Mimi,” he replied. “I’m responsible for you. I have to be positive.”

“Don’t be stupid!” 

The symbol on Mimi’s arm started to glow a subtle green, barely a flicker as she tried to figure out what to do to help Joe. The horse then bent over, which forced Joe to slip forward and ultimately let go. Mimi cried out in horror as he started falling and screaming towards the sharp rocks below. She had to do something or he was going to die. 

“JOE!” she screamed with her eyes closed as she forced her hand out. 

Joe’s screams stopped. Mimi opened her eyes, hoping with all her heart that what she thought happened didn’t happen. To her relief, she saw Joe hovering just above the rocks. She saw a bright light out of the corner of her right eye and knew right away that it was the symbol on her arm. 

“That could have been messy,” Joe chuckled facetiously as he continued hovering. “It’s up to you now, Mimi. Destroy the gear on its back and it’ll go back to normal.” 

“But I don’t know if I…” Mimi started to say, but Joe interrupted her. 

“You can do it,” he nodded encouragingly. “I believe in you, Mimi!” 

Taking his confident words in stride, Mimi nodded and slowly lowered her hand so that Joe could land on the ground softly. She took the saber off of her waist and scrambled to find out how to activate it. 

“How do you work this thing?” she demanded before hitting a switch that brought the blade forth, causing her to jump back in surprise. 

Unlike the others thus far, the color of Mimi’s lightsaber was purple. She frowned in disappointment because she hoped that it would be pink but she shrugged, thinking purple was close enough. Holding it with two hands, she approached the horse slowly. 

“Uh…good horsey,” she said softly, having trouble hiding the fact she was frightened out of her mind. “Nice horsey.” 

The horse was not having any of it as it charged towards her. She closed her eyes and took a hack at the air, hoping to land on the gear, but instead caused the creature to stay back. Mimi slowly summoned the courage to open her eyes. 

“I’m sorry to do this,” she apologized before running with a warrior cry. Jumping over one hoof, she buried her lightsaber into the gear in its back before ripping it out. The gear disappeared instantaneously and the horse flew off without a moment to spare, happy to be free of the gear. 

‘I did it,’ a smile started creeping on Mimi’s face. ‘I actually did it.’ 

“Joe, are you ok?” she asked as she looked down from the cliff to where he was. 

He nodded with a thumb up. “Yeah, I’m fine. Give me a moment and I’ll be right up.” 

It took a few moments for him to climb back up to the ledge with Mimi helping him up once he made it. 

“That was some smart thinking there, Mimi,” he said. “I thought I was a goner for a second.” 

“I thought so too,” she replied. “But it’s thanks to these weird symbols of ours that we’re still in one piece.” 

Noticing his lightsaber was still on the ground, she picked it up and stretched it out to him. 

“Lose something?” she teased as he took it back with a smile. 

“Thanks.”

“Guys!” 

The two of them turned to see Tai, Sora, and the others all running towards them. They leapt over the gap in the path before joining them on the other side. 

“Are you all ok?” Sora asked, her eyes flashing with concern. 

They nodded. 

“Yeah, we’re fine,” said Joe, his lips curling into a confident smile. “Mimi just saved my live.” 

“Mimi?” Tai, Matt, and Izzy all gasped in surprise. 

The girl in question nodded. 

“Hm,” said Tai. “Never thought I’d see the day.” 

“Mimi and I wanted to climb the mountain to see what was up there,” Joe continued to explain. “In fact, I believe we’re almost there.” 

Determined to reach the top even more, the group of kids finished the rest of the trek to the peak after a few more minutes of walking. They all looked out in awe at the view of the entire island; the ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. The kids could see the factory they had left a couple days ago, the desert, and many other places they had been on the island. 

“Doesn’t look like there’s much out there,” Matt frowned. 

“Yeah, but I think Mimi and I discovered something on the way up,” Joe looked at her with a smile, which she returned with a nod and grin.


	8. Evil Shows His Face

Up on the very peak of Infinity Mountain, darkness swirled around like an evil fog. A temple in resemblance to the Parthenon in Athens, Greece sat at the very top, like a symbol that evil is watching over the entire island. 

In this lair, a vampire-like creature sat on a throne built for a king. In a way, he was the king of the island. Devimon was his name, and evil was his game. Just the mere sight of him was enough to send a chill up even the bravest of warriors’ spines; his blood red eyes looked as though they were seeing right through you and plotting your slow and painful death; his claws as sharp as knives. 

A portal flashed before him, which caused the vampire to bow. 

“My lord,” he said respectfully. “Those blasted humans are growing stronger by the minute. Now all of them have unleashed their powers. It’ll be impossible to stop them.” 

“Silence!” the soft, but booming, voice on the other side roared. “Even with this turn of events, Devimon, we can still destroy them. It is time for you to reveal yourself to the Destined Jedi.” 

“Yes, my lord,” he replied, an evil smirk curling up his face. “Once they are destroyed, the whole Digital World will bow before us. At last we will have our revenge.” 

“You have learned well, Devimon,” said the other voice. “They will be no match for you.” 

Infinity Mountain

Walking along a mountain path on a pleasant sunny morning was a human-like lion that walked on two legs and wore black pants with a lightsaber hanging off of the waist. Its entire body was dominated by rippling muscle, with plenty of scars that told a treasure trove of battles escaped and won. Everyone on the island knew him simply as Leomon, a caretaker of the island. Lately, Leomon had noticed plenty of disturbances in the Force so he decided to investigate the cause of these disturbances. 

As he walked, he noticed a black gear whizzing out of the corner of his eye. With a frown, he could sense the presence of another. He activated the lightsaber at his side with the speed of a cheetah as he rounded the corner of the mountain pass. 

“Well, well, well, Leomon,” came a snarky voice. “We meet again at last.” 

The lion frowned as he gazed at the green being before him. His nose wrinkled at the foul smell radiating off of it. 

“Ogremon,” he growled. “I thought I smelled something foul.” 

The being called Ogremon was green all over. His mouth was wide open enough that all of his sharp white teeth could be seen and he had white hair. With black and red wristbands, kneepads and a black loincloth, he was the sort of Digimon that you did not want to mess with. Ogremon also had a lightsaber in his hand, a red one. 

“What brings you here, you overgrown kitty cat?” Ogremon sneered. 

“I have come to find the source of these black gears that are turning perfectly peaceful Digimon into monsters,” replied Leomon. “And put a stop to it.” 

“Good luck with that. You’ll never get past me. Leave now while you still have the chance.” 

Without warning, Ogremon charged towards Leomon with a loud cry. Sparks flew as their sabers clashed in a lock, each trying to prove their strength against the other. They broke apart and were about to resume their battle when a voice interrupted the two of them. 

“Both of you stop!” came a booming voice. “Why not try fighting for me instead of each other?” 

As the two of them looked around for the source of the voice, Leomon sensed dark energy near. 

“I will never do that,” he refused. 

“Neither will I!” Ogremon echoed. 

Devimon appeared instantaneously, causing the two of them to step back in shock at his appearance. 

“Devimon!” Leomon growled, holding his lightsaber closer in preparation to attack. “I should have known.” 

“What do you need him for, Master?” Ogremon dropped to his knee in respect. “I can handle whatever you ask of me alone.” 

“Silence, Ogremon,” Devimon snapped, which caused the ogre to bow his head further in silence. “This is not your typical job. The Destined Jedi are here on Infinity Mountain and my lord commands that they are to be destroyed.” 

Leomon gasped in shock. The Destined Jedi were on Infinity Mountain? He had been waiting for them to come for so long. It was tasked to him to find the Destined Jedi, that he take them to the being known as Gennai, so they could begin their training. 

“I command that you wipe them out. All of them.” 

Leomon shook his mane fiercely. “You will never destroy the Destined Jedi so long as I am around, Devimon. I’ll destroy you before you can even get to them.” 

He lifted his lightsaber in a threatening motion, ready to fight to his last breath if need be, but Devimon unleashed a torrent of Force lightning from his fingertips before he could do anything. Leomon’s cries of pain echoed throughout the entire mountainside as the lightning surged through his flesh. 

“I am not requesting your assistance, Leomon. I am demanding it,” the vampire said over the roar of pain. He waved a hand towards the fallen lion. “Now obey me and I will halt the attack.” 

The roars stopped as Leomon became rigid, his eyes glazed over.

“I will do whatever you say, my lord,” he monotonously said. 

True to his word, Devimon stopped the Force lightning by closing his hand into a fist, the smirk on his face growing bigger with each second. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Another Part of Infinity Mountain

“You call that a map?!” 

Tai frowned indignantly at Izzy. He had been making a map of the island so that they could keep track of where they were going and had been…er, what was supposed to be a map. All that was on the piece of paper were a bunch of scribbles that made absolutely no sense. 

“Well I can read it, and that’s all that matters,” he retorted. 

Matt rolled his eyes. “You are unbelievable, man,” he groaned. 

“Shut up, Matt!” 

A few feet away, Joe had sunk to his knees in despair. It didn’t matter if they had a map with them because they were still lost and had no way of getting back home. Sora tried to get him to calm down, but it was like asking a goat to make cheese appear out of thin air. 

She then felt the presence of another approaching them. She couldn’t get a good read on what it could be because her abilities weren’t fully developed yet but she had a bad feeling about it. 

“Someone’s coming,” she alerted the others, activating her lightsaber, which caused them all to do the same. The only exception was TK, who still had yet to tap into his Force abilities. 

“TK, get behind me,” Matt ordered, and the young boy did so without a peep. 

From the gap in the pathway from Joe and Mimi’s battle with the horse earlier, the kids could see a humanoid lion standing across from them. It stood with a blank expression but the kids could feel a dark energy radiating off of it. The lion grabbed the lightsaber on its belt and activated it, revealing a bright green saber, before leaping to the other side towards the kids. 

They took off without a moment to lose, not wanting to test the lion’s strength for one second. As they ran, the map Tai had made went flying out of his pocket towards the lion; who proceeded to shred it into a million pieces. 

“Aw man!” he cried. 

“Leave the map, Tai,” Matt urged him on. “Just keep going!” 

Heading further into the mountain pass, the kids thought they were home free for a second until Ogremon made his presence known. He effectively cut them off with nowhere else to run with Leomon blocking the only other way out. The kids were trapped. 

“Tai, what do we do?” Matt demanded, raising his lightsaber defensively in case of an attack. He urged TK to get behind a rock, where he would be safe. 

“We don’t have much of a choice,” replied Tai. “We have to fight.” 

“If it’s a fight you want, then a fight you shall get!” Ogremon cried as he and Leomon both charged forward to attack. 

Thinking quickly on his feet, Tai cried out orders. “Sora, Mimi, Joe, you guys take care of that overgrown cat. Matt, Izzy, and I will handle ogre breath.” 

Nodding quickly, they split off into their attack groups. Tai and his two companions dodged a Force push attack from Ogremon before striking swiftly. Three lightsabers clashed on one red lightsaber, but Ogremon was able to handle it quite well. He quickly spun to knock away their lightsaber blades until a quick strike from Izzy locked them together, allowing Matt and Tai to come in with powerful strikes. Ogremon reacted quickly and used the Force to push them away. 

On the opposite side of the path, Sora was carrying the load for the most part. She moved quickly to block one of Leomon’s heavy strikes, being kept on the defensive as the lion breathlessly launched attack after attack. It took every bit of her strength to keep up with him but that soon would start to run low. 

High above the path and out of sight, Devimon watched the events as they transpired. 

‘These kids are stronger than I thought,’ he observed. He then noticed TK hiding behind a rock. ‘But why isn’t the little one fighting?’ 

Down below, Tai and Matt were able to get the upper hand on Ogremon by working together to draw him off. Matt blocked a low saber strike while Tai came high and landed a scratch across Ogremon’s arm. On the other side, Joe and Mimi blocked attack after attack from Leomon before Sora landed a good slash across the leg. 

Without explanation, boulders at the top of the mountain broke apart and tumbled down towards the kids. Acting quickly, Tai and Matt used the Force to freeze the boulders before tossing them off the mountain towards the valley below. 

In a flash, the kids turned around to continue the battle, that is, until seeing their opponents were gone. 

Joe spoke up. “Hold on. Where did the bad guys go?” 

As they looked around, Leomon and Ogremon had disappeared without explanation. Could it have been because of the rockslide? Was it a distraction? None of the kids could figure it out. 

“Maybe they fell off the cliff,” Sora said with a shrug. “Who knows.” 

“Perhaps. But I think we should get off this mountain before anything else happens.” Tai suggested. 

“What do you think caused that?” Matt asked. 

“No idea,” shrugged Tai. “But I think that wasn’t an accident.” 

“What do you mean, Tai?” Izzy inquired. “Are you saying that something caused the rocks to fall? It’s simple geology: the pressure between the rocks caused a crack and thus they broke apart.” 

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Come on, let’s get out of here.” 

Everyone else agreed and followed the path down the mountain. Devimon watched as they trekked on, his lips curling in an evil smile as he thought of a plan to destroy them. 

‘I’ll wait until they’re tired and then I will swoop in for the kill. The Destined Jedi will be no more! They won’t know what hit them.’ 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After finally escaping Infinity Mountain, the kids trekked through a forest until the sun started to set on yet another day. They were so determined to escape the mountain that they did not take any breaks as they walked, which was now coming back to haunt them because they were beyond exhausted and needed rest. 

Matt had to carry TK on his shoulders because the little boy was all tuckered out from walking for so long, even though he was just as tired. They needed to find a place to stay for the night because none of them wanted to sleep on the ground for a night. A nice, warm bed would be a welcomed change. 

Just as it looked like they were going to have to find a place to camp for the night, they stumbled across what looked to be a grand chateau house but could easily be seen as a hotel or a mansion. It was European-style architecture with towers and brick finishes, something that the kids never saw that often in Japan. Happy that their luck had changed, they ran with the last bits of strength that they had towards it, happy to finally find something that seemed like home in this crazy world. 

As they walked in, the place was entirely empty; Tai could not sense a single soul in the place, meaning it was entirely deserted. This did not stop the kids from going in because they were desperate enough for some comfort that they decided to disregard basic decency and take advantage of what the mansion had to offer—even if it meant that they were technically trespassing. 

The kids had not enjoyed this kind of comfort since they had been home a few days ago; a big table full of food awaited them once they entered the dining room only to be decimated in seconds due to their empty stomachs demanding food; a bathhouse with divided baths for both sexes, which allowed them to bathe for the first time in a while; and finally, actual beds with fresh, clean sheets for them all to sleep in. It almost sounded too good to be true but the kids could not care less at the moment due to how comfortable they were. 

“It almost feels like we’re home again,” Tai sighed contently as he shed his bathrobe to lie back under the covers. 

Everyone else fell silent at the mention of home. It was going on five days, almost a week, since they were last at home. Tai’s face fell sympathetically, knowing exactly what everyone was thinking for he too missed his family. He hoped that Kari was doing better since he last saw her and wondered if his parents were beginning to worry about him. 

“Yeah, just like home,” Matt sighed with a far-off tone. 

TK had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow but everyone could hear soft sobs coming from the young boy. It was truly a sad sight for the children to look at. How could a boy so young be expected to endure something like this? It almost sounded cruel. 

“Come on, guys,” said Sora, trying to sound positive even though she too felt miserable. “We just have to stay positive. We’ll be home soon, we just have to believe that we will. There can be miracles when you believe.” 

Tai rolled his eyes. “Don’t bring Prince of Egypt into this, Sora,” he moaned. 

“Well it seemed appropriate for me to use that,” she pouted. 

“Doesn’t matter anyway,” Joe said, ridding himself of his glasses before getting comfortable in the bed. “We don’t know if we’re gonna find a way back home.” 

“Tomorrow is a new day, everyone,” Sora yawned before settling down to sleep. “Good night.” 

“Good night,” they all echoed. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tai’s eyes snapped open a couple of hours later, having felt the familiar urge to use the bathroom. Ever since he was little, he would sometimes take up to four trips to the bathroom during the night. It was a problem that even his parents couldn’t figure out, which led to many discussions about him seeing a doctor, but those plans ultimately never happened. It just became a part of his nightly routine. 

He looked around, hearing nothing but the soft sounds of everyone’s breathing, before carefully and quietly sneaking out of the room in nothing but his briefs and into the hallway. Something told him that he would need to keep his lightsaber handy so he made sure to carry it with him as he walked down the hall to the bathroom. 

As he did what nature intended, giving him a sense of nirvana, he couldn’t help but smell something foul overpowering the entire bathroom. For a second, he thought another one of the kids was also in the bathroom, but the Force energy did not feel familiar to him. Tai kept his lightsaber tightly grasped in his hand as he kicked the stall door in…only to find nothing except for a toilet. 

‘That’s odd,’ he thought. ‘I could have sworn that I sensed something in this cubicle.’ 

As he turned away from the stall, Tai came face-to-face with Ogremon. He jumped back in surprise at Ogremon’s close proximity to him, igniting his lightsaber in a flash, before locking the ogre creature in a saber lock. 

“It’s time I put you kids out for good,” Ogremon cackled, trying to scare Tai into submission, but the boy was not having it. 

“We’ll see who takes out whom,” he sneered before breaking their saber lock and using the Force to push Ogremon through the opposite wall. Tai then ran out of the bathroom before the ogre could recover from the attack. 

“Guys!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “Wake up! Ogremon is here!” 

Before he could get any further, Leomon cut off his path, leaving Tai with nowhere to run. Knowing that the only thing to do was fight, Tai raised his saber in an aggressive manner to show that he was not afraid. 

“Must destroy,” the lion growled. “The children.” 

“What did we do to you?” Tai demanded, wanting to know what he and his friends did to set the lion off. 

“You didn’t do anything. It was me!” a loud voice cackled viciously. “I made him this way.” 

Tai looked around the landing and the entrance hall of the mansion down below for the source of the voice. It sounded far off, but also as though it whispered into his ear. 

“Who was that?” he called out, masking his fear with a tone of aggressiveness. “Show yourself.” 

“Be mindful of your feelings, Destined Jedi,” the voice sneered. “They betray you. I can smell your fear.” 

Tai hated to admit it, but the voice was right. He was terrified right now; not just for himself, but for his friends as well. Soon he heard the same laugh coming from his right, so he turned to get an idea of who it was that was taunting him. 

What he saw almost caused him to wet his briefs: it was like he had come face-to-face with the devil himself. Devimon stood before him with an evil smirk dominating his features. 

“Who the hell are you?” Tai demanded, pointing his lightsaber towards the newcomer. 

“I am Devimon, supreme ruler over File Island,” the Digimon replied. “And the time has come for you all to meet your end, Destined Jedi.” 

He chuckled. “Surely you have heard of the prophecy.” 

Tai nodded. “Sure, that the eight destined ones will rise…” he began to answer, but Devimon interrupted him. 

“And rid the entire Digital World of all evil to bring balance to it,” he finished. “And now I have come to make sure this prophecy does not come true.” 

He stretched out his hands, and before Tai knew it, the entire building disappeared in a manner of pixels and data. Once that was over, Tai stood in the middle of an empty shell of a building: the floor was a big gaping hole in front of him, the stairs and doors were all but gone, along with everything else. The cold night air caused goose bumps to run up his arms. 

“What the..?” Tai cried, wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm. 

“Did you honestly think that there would be an abandoned mansion in the middle of a forest?” Devimon cackled once again. “The food, the bath, everything you saw; it was all an illusion of my creation.” 

Come to think of it, Tai’s stomach felt empty, like he hadn’t eaten all day. Nothing that they experienced was real. If he wasn’t angry before, he was now. 

“Ok, man. You’re going down!” Tai narrowed his eyes in concentration before raising his lightsaber out in front of him. 

Devimon laughed. “You and what army?” 

“That would be us,” Matt replied as he and the others joined Tai on the platform, all of them having some other form of clothing on their bodies besides their underclothes. One by one, they all activated their lightsabers. TK hid behind Matt, the only one still completely in his underwear due to him still trying to wake up. 

Joe’s face turned white at the sight of Devimon, on the border of peeing his pants again. “Tai, what is that?”

“His name’s Devimon, and he says he’s come to destroy us.” 

Devimon smirked in pleasure. This was going to be easier than he thought. Even though they all acted confident, he could sense the apprehension and fear that was coursing through them, especially the little one. He would have to take care of him last so that he would never be able to tap into his abilities. 

“Then come and fight, if you dare,” he challenged, pulling a lightsaber from his side and igniting it, the bright red blade filling the night sky with color and illuminating his face. 

Tai and the others stood ready as they thought up a plan of attack. A full frontal assault seemed like a good idea, but was completely predictable. 

“We’ll take him together, Tai,” Matt whispered to their leader. “You and Izzy go in on the right…” 

But Tai was having none of it. “I’m taking him now!” he shook his head before charging with a loud cry without giving Matt a chance to stop him. 

“Tai, no!” 

Devimon saw the attack coming from a mile away. 

‘All too easy,’ he grinned as he unleashed Force lightning on Tai, catching him off guard before he could have a chance to block it. Tai yelled out in agonizing pain as the lightning coursed through his young body before being thrown into a column by Devimon, knocking him out cold. Some stray lightning bolts surged through him, only adding to his misery. 

“You idiot,” Matt muttered before raising his saber defensively, realizing it was up to him now to keep everyone safe. 

“As you see, my power is beyond any of you,” Devimon taunted as he faced the others.

“Matt, we can’t beat him,” Joe tried to talk some sense into Matt before they all ended up like Tai had. “He’s too powerful.” 

Matt glared at him. “Joe, as long as we work together, we’ll be fine,” he replied. 

Giving him a nod, the two of them charged towards Devimon. Their lightsabers clashed in a swift array of color, the two of them trying to overpower him with their numbers, but the vampire swiftly blocked each attack with ease. 

Matt hacked at Devimon, trying to get one of his attacks to go through, but the Digimon’s defense was as strong as his striking. He was a wholly sound duelist while the two boys were just merely running off of what they knew from watching the Star Wars movies. 

Soon their duel merged into another saber lock, with Devimon holding his lightsaber horizontally to keep the two boys’ lightsabers at bay. He pushed his saber forward, causing them to give slightly. He had found his opening. 

He broke the saber lock to swiftly slash Matt across the upper arm and then do the same to Joe’s leg. The two boys cried out in pain as they fell to the ground, gritting their teeth as the searing pain from the laser sword coursed through their bodies. 

Devimon then turned his attention to Izzy and the girls, simply using the Force to push them into the wall behind them, leaving TK alone and defenseless. If he could destroy him, then that was one less Destined Jedi he would have to deal with. 

“Now it is time for me to destroy you, my young friend,” he smiled wickedly as he approached TK slowly. “Then I will kill the rest of you one at a time.” 

“TK!” Matt cried, before gritting his teeth in pain from the slash on his arm again. He felt even more helpless than his brother surely felt because he couldn’t do anything to stop it. 

TK was too paralyzed with fear to do anything as Devimon approached him, his ligthsaber glowing menacingly. He didn’t know what else to do other than cry his little heart out, tears falling down his face like a waterfall. If only he hadn’t been so weak and could tap into his abilities, then maybe he would have had a fighting chance. 

Within moments, Devimon was right on him, which caused him to cry even louder. It certainly irked Devimon, but not enough to stop him from doing what he was about to do. 

“Time to say goodbye, young one,” his wicked grin grew even wider before raising his saber to deliver the final blow. TK closed his eyes in fear, which allowed more tears to stream down his face, waiting for the inevitable. 

As Devimon brought his saber down, another one activated nearby. Instead of the sound of laser meeting flesh, the sound of two lightsabers clashing could be heard. TK hesitantly opened his eyes to see a green lightsaber just above him blocking Devimon’s. For a moment, he thought it was his brother’s. As he looked to his left, he saw Leomon was the one holding the saber. 

“You fool!” Devimon hissed at the lion. “I command you to let me destroy him!” 

“I’m sorry, but I cannot let that happen, Devimon,” Leomon replied, having finally been rid of the mind trick that kept him under Devimon’s control. “You will not harm the Destined Jedi anymore!” 

The two broke their saber lock, which allowed Leomon to kick Devimon down to the bottom floor. The lion leapt down from the top floor and the two clashed ferociously, their lightsabers mere blurs as they battled for control of the duel. 

Soon, Leomon gained control, landing one strike that knocked Devimon’s lightsaber-wielding hand to the side before slicing the blade into two pieces. He then pointed his lightsaber at Devimon’s throat. 

“Give up, Devimon,” he growled, his white teeth bared. “It’s over.” 

“Ha!” Devimon laughed defiantly. “You may think this is over, Leomon, but it’s not. I will wait for you all to come back so I can finish you off myself!” 

He then disappeared right before Leomon’s eyes with an evil laugh that echoed throughout the ruins. 

Leomon growled quietly in his disappointment at not managing to destroy Devimon. Deciding the children were more important, he turned around to leap back up onto the landing, where the children were slowly recovering from that experience. Matt and Joe clutched their wounded limbs with gritted teeth, Izzy and the girls slowly recovered from being pushed into the wall, and Tai limped along towards the others as he recovered from the Force lightning. 

“You children are lucky to be alive,” said Leomon, sitting in a lotus position. “To take on Devimon with no proper training and come out alive takes sheer dumb luck to accomplish.” 

Joe slowly sat up so he could reach for the first aid kit in the emergency bag that they still had. He tended to Matt’s arm first by wrapping it in bandages, tightly enough that it applied pressure but not enough to cut off circulation to his arm, before moving on to his own leg. 

“How do we defeat that?” he asked with a defeated tone as he wrapped a bandage around it. “It’s hopeless! We can’t win.” 

“Joe, stop!” Sora shouted, not wanting to hear another one of his monologues on how hopeless it was for them. “You listen here: we just have to stay…” 

“No, you listen to me, Sora!” Joe shouted back. “We almost got killed here tonight, so I think we are beyond trying to stay positive! It’s time to be realistic!” 

“Stop it!” TK yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone looked at him with a look of shock, not expecting him to do something like that. “Arguing among ourselves is not going to solve anything.” 

Leomon nodded. “He’s right. Only Gennai can help you now.” 

Aside from Mimi, everyone else cocked an eyebrow in confusion at the name. Having heard it before, she looked on expectantly, hoping to attach a face to it. 

“Who’s Gennai?” Izzy asked, putting on his clothes. 

“And how can he help us?” Tai put his two cents in, putting his clothes and his goggles back on. “We’re just a bunch of kids who were at summer camp until we somehow ended up here. We’re nothing special.” 

“That is where you are wrong,” Leomon shook his mane. “You children are special. The seven of you have been said to be the Destined Jedi, and it is my job to take you to Gennai so you can begin your training. If you want to defeat Devimon, you must learn everything about the Force and how to channel it properly. Gennai can show you the way.” 

“Wait, hold on,” Tai couldn’t wrap his head around what the lion was saying. “You’re telling us that all of this: the Force, Jedi, the Sith, and epic battles to save the world, is real?” 

“It just doesn’t make any sense to me how that can be possible,” Izzy said. “I mean, the things we have seen over the last few days have been real, but I just can’t wrap my head around it.” 

Leomon sighed deeply, realizing that this was going to be a lot harder than he previously thought; so many questions and so little time at their disposal. 

“Children,” he began. “Your coming has been ordained for eons. I don’t know why, Gennai doesn’t know why, and certainly you do not know why. Many eons ago, a great darkness came to our world and almost destroyed it. Luckily it was because of humans like you, the Destined Jedi, that our world was able to be free.” Leomon’s tone then grew darker. “Now that this evil has come back even stronger than before, Gennai instructed me to find the next group of Destined Jedi to save our world and bring them to him so he could begin their training.” 

The kids watched in awed silence. This was more interesting than any of their history classes back at home. Knowing he had their full attention, Leomon continued. 

“And now the burden of being the Destined Jedi falls to you. For the sake of not just our world, but your own as well, it is time for you to accept your destiny.” 

He was met with blank stares. The kids could not believe what they were hearing, it all sounded straight out of a movie. It was just too unbelievable to be true. 

“I think you’ve made a mistake,” said Joe. “We’re not heroes!” 

“We’re just seven normal kids from Odaiba,” added Sora. “The only thing we ever had to worry about was the train being on time and then, poof, we’re some special group of kids who are supposed to save the world.” 

“This is all just too unbelievable,” Matt echoed. “Why us? Why were we chosen to bear this responsibility, Leomon?” 

By now, they all were sitting in a semi-circle fully clothed. The cold night air blew across the ruins, chilling the children even more as Leomon thought of a good explanation to give them. 

Finally, with a click of his tongue against his fangs, he answered. “Because of what is in your hearts. All seven of you personify one characteristic that is embodied in your lightsaber crystals. Once you bond with them, it can unlock great power.”

“And how do we do that?” Tai asked, unsure of what he was saying. 

“Through the symbols on your arms,” Leomon replied, causing the kids to look at the symbols on their arms inquisitively. “Those symbols are what connects you to the Force. Through bonding with your saber crystals, which are in the same shape as the symbols, you can unlock greater power than you ever imagined. In order to do that, you must learn how to handle that kind of power when the time comes, hence why I must take you to Gennai.” 

Tai looked to his friends, unsure of what to say. He hoped someone else in the circle could offer a more plausible reason to all of this, but the only response was the cold wind that seemed to pick up in speed. Shivering, Tai shook his hands, rapidly rubbing them along his arms to keep warm. Not to mention that this was insane. One minute they're fighting against Leomon, and now they were expected to trust him and this Gennai guy? 

This was nuts, or a trap.

Before Tai could give his decision, Mimi spoke in a meek manner.

"Um, Tai? I heard a voice earlier, and, well, they said something about a 'Gennai'. And, honestly, this person might have a warm place for us to sleep..."

With this new information revealed, desperation dripped from everyone's eyes as they all turned to Tai, awaiting his decision. What were the chances of this being another trap with more illusions of food and a warm bed? Not to mention he was starving. God, he was starving. Though it would play in their favor to find out how to tap further into their potential powers, if it was some kind of trap, at least they could fight their way out.

Seeing as they had no other choice, Tai answered for everyone. “Alright, we’ll play your game,” he said. “Take us to him.”


	9. The House Under The Lake

Desert  
The Continent of Server  
Digital World

Leomon led the kids across the dark desert as they continued their journey to Gennai’s house. By now, it was almost 3 o’clock in the morning. All of them were tired and the cold air was not getting any better. 

‘Maybe Mom was right,’ Tai thought as he shivered from the cold. ‘I should have worn a sweater to camp.’ 

The rest of the crew walked quietly, the only sounds in the desert being the wind and their own footsteps. In order to leave File Island, they had to go across a vast sea, which did not sit well with Joe at all. On a makeshift raft that they had made, he spent most of the time throwing up and being miserable due to his seasickness. Leomon would tell them some legends of the Digital World as they drifted along to help pass the time, such as one about how the “Four Holy Beasts”, or the sovereigns as Leomon referred to them as, came to be and how they destroyed the evil that first threatened the Digital World. The kids found it incredibly fascinating. 

After almost two hours at sea, the group finally reached the continent of Server. 

The kids had no idea what would await them when they reached Gennai’s house. What if this Gennai was not as advertised and he turned out to be a letdown? 

They could not handle any more disappointment than they had gotten already, which was quite a lengthy list: No other humans besides them, no hotels or inns (and the one they had found turned out to be a fake), and worst of all, not a glimmer of an idea how they would get home. 

The kids were counting two strikes at this point. If Gennai turned out to be the third, they would resign their fate to forever being stuck in the Digital World, never to see their families again. 

“Are you all ok?” Leomon asked, breaking the thick silence. “You’ve been pretty quiet since we got here.” 

“Yeah, we’re fine, Leomon,” Tai answered with a yawn. “We’re all just tired. How much further do we have to go?” 

“Just a little longer,” replied the lion. “Be patient.” 

The kids all groaned. They were tired of being patient, they wanted results now, but continued walking nonetheless. If it was worth all the suffering they had to endure, then it was worth doing. 

“But I’m tired!” Mimi whined, looking as though she was ready to drop at any second. 

“Good things come to those who wait, Mimi,” Sora smiled with an assuring tone. “It’ll be alright.” 

“How do you know?” 

Sora went tight-lipped, obviously having no justification for her statement. Mimi rolled her eyes and continued to walk along miserably. 

“You know what,” Leomon said from up front. “Let’s just go back to being quiet again.” 

“No argument there,” replied Matt, giving a yawn. He carried a sleeping TK on his back, hearing the boy’s soft breathing with every step that he took. The slash on his arm had dulled down just a bit, but the pain was still noticeable. Hopefully Gennai could heal he and Joe once they got to his house. 

At the back of the pack, Joe limped along as the wound on his leg made putting weight on it virtually impossible. It sent a sharp pain through his entire leg every time he took a step, which caused him to grit his teeth and inhale sharply in pain. In hindsight, he wasn’t sure what he was thinking charging in with Matt to battle Devimon.

‘That definitely wasn’t my best decision,’ he thought as he stayed step for step with the group. Thankfully, Leomon had the consideration to go at a slow pace so that he could keep up. 

Within the next half hour, the group had finally reached the end of the vast desert and into a thick forest. Bald cypress trees, like from pictures they had seen of the bayou in New Orleans, made up the entire forest. If they wanted to know what it was like to visit a swamp, they had just experienced it. 

Just to be safe, they all watched their step as they walked along, not wanting to step into (or onto) something they shouldn’t. The last thing they wanted at this juncture was to run, especially since they were all tired as could be from the very little sleep they had gotten at the fake mansion. 

Occasionally someone would step on a twig and give everyone a brief scare from the sound, but besides that it was a solemn walk through the forest. If it were the real world, the kids would have expected to hear crickets chirping and owls hooting into the night, but it was as silent as a tomb. Moonlight barely crept through the thick tree limbs, making it seem darker than it truly was. 

Leomon raised a hand up, signaling the kids to stop. Fear slowly built up within them, wondering if Leomon had sensed something coming their way. 

“What is it, Leomon?” Tai whispered quietly, not wanting to alert whatever may be near that they were there. “Do you sense something?” 

“We’re here,” the lion replied. “You have nothing to fear, children.” 

They all gave a collective sigh of relief, being high-strung enough with the lack of sleep and from their experience with Devimon. The kids looked out at the lake in front of them, moonlight reflecting off of the water and giving them an idea of the grand scale of the lake. Once they all escaped the tree line, they started looking around the lakeshore for something that looked like a house. 

“So…where’s Gennai’s place?” Matt asked the obvious question, not finding anything along the shore. 

“Is this a trick?” Joe demanded, feeling like Leomon was playing a prank on them. 

“No, it’s not a trick,” Leomon replied, sensing their feelings of confusion. “Gennai’s house is under this lake. We’ll be going underwater, ok?” 

The idea of swimming did not sit well with Mimi. 

“My hat! My beautiful hat!” she shrieked, clutching her prized possession in her gloved hands. 

Sora was not having any of it. Normally, she would have been able to keep her patience but she was so sleep-deprived that she couldn’t control herself. 

“Mimi, now is not the time!” she growled. 

“Sorry,” Mimi apologized, her head hanging low in contrition. 

Izzy finally spoke up for the first time since they got there. He had been quietly observing the continent they had landed on throughout their journey, sensing a lot of Force energy radiating from it; both from the light and dark. The darkness he sensed caused him to feel a deeper chill than the cold desert wind had brought him. If he had to guess, the Force energy was a delicate balance but darkness was slowly starting to take over. 

“If I had to guess, I would say that Gennai lives under the lake. Probably doesn’t want the wrong person to find him.” 

Leomon nodded. “You are correct, Izzy. Gennai lives under the lake so that the forces of darkness cannot locate him. They try to so they can destroy him but he is always one step ahead of them.” 

He then announced to everyone else, “We’ll be going underwater. Fair warning though, Gennai is not the most gracious of hosts.” 

“Don’t worry,” Matt remarked snidely. “This hasn’t been our day for gracious hosts.” 

A blinding light suddenly pierced the night sky, causing the kids to shield their eyes due to the brightness and suddenness of the light. If there were any creatures asleep along the lake or in the forest, they would for sure be woken up by the sheer brightness of it. 

The water parted like the Red Sea in front of the group to reveal a staircase leading down into the lake. The kids were still in shock by this turn of events that they didn’t notice Leomon already starting to walk down the stairs. 

“Well, come on,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Time’s a-wastin’, kids.” 

With a quick nod, they all followed him down, feeling like the Hebrews being led through the Red Sea by Moses. The stairway seemed never-ending because the kids never saw a definitive bottom yet. 

“Does anyone else find this completely crazy?” Joe asked, noticing all of the aquatic life swimming beside them. 

“It’s certainly a weird way to live,” Matt nodded before gesturing to the sleeping boy on his back. “But let’s just hope that there’s a warm bed for us to sleep in, especially for this guy right here.” 

Descending down a few more steps, Leomon stopped the group once again. A traditional Japanese mansion appeared out of a pink fog after waiting for a few moments. The property was divided between three separate buildings, the tiles on each roof were a dark purple color, and a Japanese garden smack in the middle.

Filled with excitement, they all ran down the last few flights of stairs to reach the garden, hopeful to find this mysterious Gennai and finally attach a face to the name. 

Bonsai trees were spread all around the garden, with a pond that was surprisingly full of koi fish swimming around. The kids were thankful to find something that was familiar to them, almost wanting to bow to the ground and pray to whatever God they worshipped in the Digi-World. 

Leomon began walking towards the main building of the house. 

“Sit tight for a second, kids,” he instructed. “I’m going to go let Gennai know we are here.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The kids sat and waited for what felt like an hour, wondering if they had come at a bad time and Gennai wasn’t going to accept them inside for the night. If it came to that, there was going to be a riot because the group was tired, hungry, and cold beyond comprehension. They were beyond taking ‘no’ for an answer at this point. 

Thankfully, the door slid open and Leomon came out before they could plot how they were going to get inside. The kids looked on hopefully in preparation of what he was about to tell them. 

“You may go on inside,” he gestured with his hand. “Gennai is expecting you.” 

They could not have moved fast enough, almost running Leomon over trying to get inside, the sound of a warm bed and good breakfast in the morning calling their names like a siren call. It was too much for them to resist any longer. 

The group removed their shoes in the customary way before entering someone’s home and stepped onto the tatami mats that covered the floor in the entrance hall. All around, the inside was small, even by Japanese standards: The hallways were narrow and there was not really a lot of space, just in the entrance hall. 

As they moved further into the house, they saw a much bigger living room than they expected, with a kotatsu table in the middle of the room. Through the windows on the other side, they saw fish swimming, which reminded them that they were under a lake rather than in the real world. 

“Good evening, children,” a gravely, male voice pierced the air. “Or is it ‘good morning’? I’m not sure. I’ve lost track of time.” 

The group turned to see a little old man sitting in a meditative position with his back turned to them. 

Tai spoke first. “Are you Gennai?” he asked. 

The old man nodded. “Yes I am, and you children are the Destined Jedi. I can feel how strong the Force is in each of you. Beds are laid out, and ready for you. We will talk more in the morning over breakfast. Second door, down the hallway, to your right.” 

“Thank you, sir,” they all bowed in appreciation before running down the hallway like a stampede of wild animals. 

Opening the door, they saw seven futons laid out on the floor. They all fell fast asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The crowing of a rooster awoke the kids the next morning. How a rooster crowing was possible here was beyond them, but they had learned by now that nothing made sense in the Digital World.

They got up, and like good guests, folded up their futons neatly before placing them in a nearby closet. The smell of food beckoned them to the living room, where the kotatsu table was. Their mouths watered as they saw a large spread on the table; miso soup, rice, grilled mackerel, even orange juice sat out. They had not had a home cooked meal since they had been in the Digital World, so this was a welcomed change. 

“Good morning,” said Gennai, seated at the head of the table expectantly. “I trust you children slept well?” 

“Yes,” they all nodded in agreement. 

“The food looks great,” Tai licked his lips, going on almost 24 hours since he last ate something real and didn’t want to wait another second. 

The kids took their seats on cushions that lined around the table, feeling more content than they had felt in a long time. They then clapped their hands together to give thanks. 

“Itadakimasu!” they recited before digging into the food. Not wanting to seem like slobs in front of their host, they ate with restraint, although they wanted to tear into the food like a pack of wolves. 

Tai, on the other hand, stuffed his face like there was no tomorrow. Anything he came in contact with disappeared down his gullet in a matter of seconds. The others glared at him admonishingly, but he was too hungry to care. 

“Is there any more?” he asked after downing his third piece of mackerel and two bowls of rice. 

Sora looked at him with disgust. “Tai, you’re such a pig.” 

‘Oh, you’re one to talk,” he retorted. “Who was it that couldn’t get enough of my mom’s vanilla crème pie last Christmas, and threw up for half an hour? Because it certainly wasn’t me.” 

“Why, you!” Sora was about to use the Force against him, but remembered that her symbol had yet to glow. 

“Ok, ok, that’s enough,” said Gennai, hoping to break things up. “No need to worry, Tai. There is plenty of mackerel to eat and then some. Have as much as you want.” 

Not needing to be told twice, Tai took a couple more pieces from the bowl and put them on his plate. Before he could start chowing down again, his chopsticks stopped in mid-air. 

“Wait, how did you know my name?” he asked. “I don’t believe we’ve introduced ourselves yet.” 

“No need,” Gennai replied with a dismissive wave, getting up from the table and pacing around the room steadily. “I know everything I need to know about all of you. You were chosen to fulfill the prophecy of the Destined Jedi, but one problem still remains.” 

“And what’s that?” asked Joe, taking a sip of the orange juice in front of him. 

“You kids need training,” was the reply. “You must learn how to discipline your minds and control your emotions, as well as be excellent swordsmen if you hope to save not just the Digital World, but your own as well.” 

Their silence gave Gennai the hint to continue. 

“Now, I watched all of you battle, and I am impressed by what you can do with the little training that you have,” he then eyed Matt and Joe’s bandages. “However, it was not enough to defeat Devimon. If you want to defeat him, and eradicate this evil from the Digital World, you will need to learn everything there is to know about wielding the lightsaber.” 

“An elegant weapon from a more civilized age, wouldn’t you say?” Matt joked, earning a laugh from TK, who sat next to him. Gennai, however, gave him a blank look. 

“As I was saying,” he continued. “The evil is slowly taking over; it will never rest and it will never stop until both worlds are completely covered in darkness. To train a Jedi takes years; you all have two weeks, so learn quickly. That is my only request.” 

“Why just two weeks?” Sora asked, leaning forward to show she was paying attention. 

“Because I couldn’t reach an agreement with the darkness to hold out for a longer amount of time,” was the sarcastic reply before it turned serious. “The sooner you all can get back out there, the better for the rest of us. Also, it’ll allow you to find the eighth Destined Jedi before the forces of darkness do. What do you say, kids, are you up for the challenge?” 

After that long, winded explanation, the kids had lost their appetite. The gravity of the situation pressed a metaphorical weight down onto their shoulders, giving them a sense of dread. What if they messed up? They couldn’t bear the thought of having everything they love and hold dear being destroyed. 

Tai then spoke for everyone as he stood up from the table. 

“If this is the only way, then we don’t have much choice. Let’s do it!” he pumped a fist in the air. 

‘Be careful what you wish for,’ Gennai softly smirked to himself, thinking of what lay ahead for the group of kids. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that day

Gennai had called Izzy inside as everyone else around him worked. They had been given a long list of chores that needed to be done around the property, which took up the rest of the morning into the afternoon.

Several of the tasks included feeding the koi fish, trimming the bonsai trees, sweeping the floor, scrubbing it, etc. The kids did not know what this had to do with learning to be the Destined Jedi, but didn’t want Gennai to change his mind about training them, so they went along with it. 

“Izzy, I want to show you something,” said the old man before leading Izzy to another building on the property. The computer genius followed without question, his natural curiosity getting the better of him. 

Sliding open the door, Izzy’s mouth gaped open. 

“Prodigious!” he exclaimed in awe of what he saw. “This is amazing!” 

A wall covered in the same manuscript he saw in the battery back at the factory stood before the two of them. Along with the strange characters, Izzy could see what looked like animals being depicted, with the characters underneath the renderings. There was a carving of a small Tyrannosaurus Rex, a wolf-like creature with a horn sticking out of its head; a ladybug; a bird; a plant-like creature; and what looked like a seal with a Mohawk. There was also a small guinea pig-like creature and a cat. 

“What are these?” Izzy asked, his jaw becoming slack. 

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” replied Gennai. “I am old and have too much to do to figure this out on my own. You’re a smart kid, so I thought you’d be the one to decipher this digicode.” 

“So that’s what this manuscript is called,” Izzy’s eyes lit up in realization. “Digicode..interesting. I promise that I will do my best.” 

“Very good.”


	10. Memories In The Dark

A loud yawn escaped Izzy's mouth as he rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. He didn't know what time it was, nor did he care. He was trying to decipher at least one part of the digicode on the mural that Gennai had showed him earlier in the day, but that was far easier said than done, even for a genius like him. He had been working on it since dinner had finished, and had not had any luck so far. 

It had to be past midnight by now because his roommates were fast asleep, his only companion being a small reading lamp that he kept at a low light so as not to disturb the others. Gennai told them that they would begin their training the next day, so Izzy felt an urgency to decipher one section of the digicode before then. 

'Ok,' he thought as he scanned the glyphs on his computer, the ladybug drawing his attention at the moment. 'Let's find out who you are, my friend.' 

His fingers typed away like mad, becoming a blur in a matter of seconds. He zoomed in closer on the manuscript below the carving of the bug until it took up the whole screen. There were letters just below the carving, and then another line of them just below that. He decided to do that line first. 

It took a matter of seconds for the digicode to convert into kanji symbols, which allowed him to read easier. 

"The Digimon of Knowledge," he read before chuckling to himself. "Sounds like my kind of Digimon. Now to find out what your name is." 

This one proved to take even longer: Some letters were lost in translation and didn't come out right when converted into kanji, but Izzy was determined to solve this mystery. If it could help them, then he was determined to find out what it was. 

Finally, he found the right combination of letters to use, after realizing he had misspelled some of them. Two seconds later, the name came out in clear kanji. 

Tentomon. 

Upon closer examination, Izzy saw something that looked like the symbol he had on his arm. Having a good idea of what it meant, he rolled up his right sleeve to reveal it. Comparing the two, he concluded they were the exact same. 

'Which, if I am correct, means that this creature and I must be connected in some way.' 

"Izzy, come to bed," Sora whispered with a soft yawn, sitting up from her futon. "It's late, and you need your sleep for tomorrow." 

Izzy let out a yawn of his own. He wanted to keep working, but knew that Sora was right. Tomorrow was their first day of training, and he wanted to be ready for it. 

"Alright," he whispered back. "I’ll be there in a moment. Go back to sleep." 

She nodded and laid back down on the bed. 

He closed his laptop, and turned off the reading light before settling down for sleep, wondering what awaited them all when the sun came up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rooster crowing woke them all up at dawn, just like the day before.

Getting up and putting their futons away, the kids walked into the living room for breakfast, nervous and excited for what awaited them on their first day of training. Knowing they only had two weeks to learn as much as they could gave them all the motivation they needed to take these lessons seriously. 

“Itadakimasu!” 

Breakfast remained a quiet affair for the most part; Tai didn’t stuff his face like he hadn’t eaten in weeks today, and bowls of food were passed around wordlessly. The only sound made was the clattering of chopsticks against the bowls. 

Izzy’s mind wandered back to last night. What if the other carvings on the wall had to do with each of them? He and the one called Tentomon were definitely connected in some way, but who were the rest connected to? It was something he wanted to figure out as he deciphered the rest of the wall. 

“So what’d you find out last night, Izzy?” asked Sora, who was seated across from him at the table. “You were working pretty late last night, so it must have been important.” 

Izzy took a sip of juice before answering her. 

“I think I have stumbled upon something that has to do with us. Gennai showed me this mural that had eight creatures carved into it yesterday and asked me to translate the writing. I managed to decipher one last night. My theory is this: These carvings represent real life creatures that are connected to all of us. I haven’t gotten much further than that, but I have a feeling there is more to this than meets the eye.” 

Before anyone could ask him a question, the door slid open to reveal Gennai standing before them. Immediately, their conversation came to a close before standing at attention. 

“Good morning, children,” the old man greeted. “I trust you all slept well?” 

They nodded. 

“Good, because today we are going on a little field trip.” 

If this were an anime, a big question mark would be hanging over the kids’ heads. 

“A field trip?” Tai replied. “To where?” 

Gennai smiled. “You’ll find out. Get ready to head out in ten minutes. I’ll meet you in the garden.” 

He slid the door closed behind him as he left the room, leaving the group of kids with more questions than answers. 

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Matt said. 

“I’m with you there,” Joe agreed, nodding his head. “What if he’s taking us to some remote corner of the continent and then leaving us there?” 

Tai scoffed. “Why would he do that?” 

“You’d be surprised.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It took all of ten minutes for them to get their clothes on and meet Gennai in the garden. Because of their speculation, the kids were unsure just what Gennai had in store for them. What if he was already throwing them to the metaphorical wolves as their first test? They weren’t sure if they were ready for something like that. 

“Now that you all are here, let’s get going,” said Gennai as he led them out of the garden and to the staircase that led to the surface. 

Joe looked at the stairs with a wry expression. 

“Great,” he said dryly. “More walking. Just what the doctor ordered!” 

“We don’t have time for jokes, Joe,” Gennai admonished with a dismissive tone. “Now let’s get moving while we still have daylight.” 

Just like when they first came, the water parted to allow them passage up the staircase. Soon, they were back on the surface with the sun beating down on them. Even though it was morning, the sun was boiling. Sweat doted each kid’s brow as they stepped onto the lakeshore. Gennai then led the group to the tree line as they began their journey towards their destination. 

While they were walking, Tai sensed a strong amount of Force energy coming from ahead of them. If what his senses were telling him was correct, then they were heading towards a place that was flowing with Force energy. 

“Can you feel it?” Matt’s voice pierced his concentration. 

Tai nodded. “Yeah. I have a feeling where we’re going is strong in the Force.” He then raised his voice so Gennai could hear him. “Is that where we’re going, Gennai?” 

The old man chuckled. “I knew you would figure it out at some point. You’ll find out what it is soon, now keep up.” 

The two boys went wide-eyed. He was more than a few yards ahead of them, and watching with an amused expression. 

“For an old man, he’s pretty spry,” Mimi said with genuine surprise. 

“Appearances can be deceiving,” Izzy replied with a nod before they all ran to catch up with Gennai. 

Through winding trails, more thick forests, and dry desert, the group continued their journey for another hour until Gennai finally stopped in front of a hole in the mountainside. A mysterious warmth flowed through each of the kids as they stared at the cave, like it was calling them inside. 

“This is it?” Mimi asked, unimpressed by what she was seeing. “A dark, damp, creepy cave? That’s what you dragged us out here for?” 

“Ah, but this is not just any dark, damp, creepy cave,” said Gennai, like a teacher trying to keep their students interested in a lesson. “This cave is home for every single being in the Digital World. It is through this cave that the Force flows through every part of our world.” 

They walked in, the sounds of water dripping from stalactites deep within the cave echoing and darkness blanketing their vision. Once they were inside, and their eyes adjusted to the darkness, giant crystals glowing a bright blue color appeared before them. 

“Welcome to your first lesson,” Gennai began. “In order to harness your abilities, you must learn how to feel the Force and be aware of it at all times. For that, I would like you all to sit and meditate.” 

An imaginary question mark went over the kids’ heads. Even though they grew up in Japan, they never really meditated before, so it was a weird request for them to process. 

Gennai noticed their blank stares. 

“Don’t tell me you kids have never meditated before.” 

They all shook their heads in confirmation. His face fell. This was going to be harder than he anticipated. 

“Ok,” he sighed. “Just sit down in a lotus position. That should be no problem for you.” 

The young Jedi in training sat down as instructed, waiting for their next order attentively. 

“Now close your eyes.” 

That order was also followed. 

“Relax and breathe in and out softly. Let your mind go blank.” 

The feeling was incredible; almost as if something was swimming its way through their bloodstream and bringing extra energy to their bodies. Maybe it was the strength of the Force in the cave, but the kids were more balanced than at any other time they had been in this world. 

While everyone else relaxed, Tai was still as restless as he normally was. He didn’t like things to be quiet and serene, preferring chaos at any given moment. At least something was always happening, unlike now where it was too quiet for his taste. 

With a sharp growl, he opened his eyes. 

“This is stupid!” he cried. “What does meditating have to do with any of this?” 

“Tai!” Sora chastised, her eyes still closed. 

“It’s ok,” Gennai dismissed before glaring at the offending student. “Let him be restless, for he will soon discover the power of the cave.” 

The tone of his voice sent a shiver down Tai’s spine. 

“Why do I not have a good feeling about that?” he asked meekly. 

“You’ll know soon enough,” the old man smiled. “Now meditate.” 

“But-“ 

“No buts! Meditate!” 

Realizing he was not going to win this fight, Tai complied, closing his eyes, and drawing his focus inward. It was like the entire universe was flowing through him; every tree, every creature, every flower, and their counterpart in this world contrasted each other in a circle of life that was never-ending. 

Gennai watched as each of their symbols started to flicker with light, showing their meditation was starting to work. Orange, blue, green, purple, grey. Out of the corner of his eye, a glimmer of yellow light coming from TK’s symbol caught his attention. The only one to not glow was Sora’s.

As a Force-sensitive being himself, he could sense her thoughts. She tried to put off a peaceful demeanor, but it betrayed her because he could sense the conflict within her. Something from her past was holding her back from finding the inner peace that was needed in order to be a good Jedi. Eventually, he was going to find out what it was. 

“Reach out,” he would encourage for the next while as the kids continued their meditation. “Feel the Force flow through you. Sense it in everything that surrounds you. The Force is not just here, but in all living things.” 

Slowly, Gennai saw Sora’s symbol begin to flicker with a red light. His encouragement seemed to be getting through to her.

Soon, Gennai instructed them to open their eyes. It took a second for them all to collect their bearings due to their eyes being closed for quite some time, groggy like they had just woken up from a nap. 

“Now you all see what I mean when I say that the Force keeps the balance of all life as we know it,” he explained. “It does not favor one side over the other; it binds the entire universe together, both good and bad.” 

Izzy was the first to answer. “I always thought that there was something keeping the balance of the world,” he said. “But I assumed that it was just how nature worked.” 

Gennai nodded. “You are quite astute, Izzy. The Force influences how nature works: For every action, there is a reaction.” He then smiled. “That’s it for today, children. Nice work on your first lesson.” 

Before they could move, he turned his attention to Tai. “Except for you, Tai.” 

The boy in question looked at him with a confused look. 

“Look, if this is about earlier, I have learned my lesson, Gennai,” he tried to explain but the old man stopped him. 

“That’s not the point, my young friend. There is something you need to know, and I want you to venture further into the cave to discover what that is.” 

Tai’s face paled as he stared deeper down the corridor, seeing nothing but never-ending darkness. It unsettled him as to what he possibly could find. 

“W-what will I find there?” he asked, trying to keep himself together. 

“That is up to you.” Gennai replied. “Now go.” 

Tai gave a hesitant nod before venturing further into the darkness in front of him. He grabbed his lightsaber from his waist to activate it so that he could have some light. The sound echoed through the entire cave, making him feel uneasy at the prospect of alerting what was here to his presence. 

The only sound that he heard was the humming of his lightsaber as he continued to walk along the dark cave path. It was as dark and quiet as a tomb, unsettling the young boy even further. Not sure what he would possibly run into, Tai kept his guard up as he rounded a corner slowly, but there was nothing on the other side. Giving a sigh of relief, he relaxed a little. 

Suddenly, a dark fog came out of nowhere, blinding Tai to what was behind and in front of him. He couldn’t see the corner he had just come around anymore. 

“What’s going on?” he vocalized out loud, his knuckles turning white underneath his white gloves as he clutched the saber in a death grip. What if this was another monster that they had yet to encounter in the Digital World? 

A light beckoned him up ahead, glowing with an almost heavenly light, bringing warmth and comfort to him as he moved towards it. Every time it seemed to get closer, the light would move further away. 

Maybe it was his eyes playing tricks on him, but apparitions of buildings flashed before his eyes as he continued to follow the light. For some reason, the buildings looked familiar, as if he had seen them before. The vision became clearer as he walked further. 

He was on top of a bridge. Down below, the river flowed noiselessly, but the stink of it flooded Tai’s nose with the unpleasant smell. It was that smell that caused the memories to flood back to him: This was the bridge that he had played on several times when he was little due to its proximity to his family’s apartment. 

Squeak, squeak. 

The sound of a bicycle up ahead sang in Tai’s ears. Deciding to move further up the bridge, a crash followed by a small cry also hit his ears. Whoever it was could be hurt, or in trouble, so Tai increased his pace. 

Once he reached the source of the sound, the weirdest sense of déjà vu washed over Tai like a wave. Right in front of him was his seven-year-old self, his face, legs, and arms scratched from so many falls. The little boy was desperately trying to hold back tears that were threatening to trickle down his face as he wallowed in disappointment. 

The sight of this triggered something in the older Tai. This was when he wanted to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels by himself, practicing all day until it got dark, thinking he could get the hang of it in that day. That did not end up being the case, however, because after enough tries, he finally gave up and went home crying. His mother was so aghast at his cut-up state that she doted on him all night until he felt better. 

“I’m never gonna learn how to ride my bike,” the younger boy sniffled hopelessly, tears already starting to cascade down his face. 

Feeling a pang of sympathy for him, Tai felt the need to say something at that moment. 

“Now don’t say that. You just have to be patient. The more you keep practicing, the more likely you’ll get it.” 

He bent down to the boy’s level and placed a hand on his small shoulder with an encouraging smile. 

“No one ever succeeds on the first try. Patience can be a great teacher, but it’s the determination to try that matters more than anything. As long as you are willing to keep pushing through, eventually you will succeed at some point. So get back up on that bike and ride. I’ll help you.” 

The younger boy wiped the tears from his eyes and hesitantly nodded. 

“Ok…I’ll try.” 

He slowly got back on the bike, the fear of falling down again resonating through his small body, but knowing that someone was there to help him gave him the confidence he needed. His feet slowly pushed the pedals as the older Tai pushed him from behind. 

Tai then let the bike go when he felt that his younger self was confident enough to ride on his own. 

“That’s it! You’re doing it!” He cried victoriously as the boy rode off into the mist, disappearing from sight with a cry of “I did it! I’m riding!”

‘That’s it!’ Tai realized. ‘Patience is what Gennai wanted me to find. As long as I exercise patience, then everything will fall into place. I can’t force everything to work at once, I need to let everything come to me in time.’ 

With this realization, he turned back and walked the way he came as the mist slowly began to dissipate.


	11. Path of the Warrior

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Odaiba Day, everyone!

Tai collapsed onto his futon in exhaustion after three long days out in the cave. The others copied him and flopped down onto theirs. Three days they had been in the cave: barely any food, rest, or down time as Gennai tested them to the limit of their abilities. 

With hardly any time in-between sessions, they became very good at meditating to replenish their energy after expending it to perform a powerful Force maneuver. Of all the things Gennai could have had them do, he made them lift rocks. Like they didn’t see that coming. 

But being back at Gennai’s house, they were ready for a nice, long rest to refuel them for the next phase of their training, which Gennai told them would take place the next morning at dawn. 

“I don’t know how much more I can take of this,” Joe whined, rubbing his aching feet. “I am beat!” 

“Joe, it’s only been three days,” Izzy replied, trying to reason with the bespectacled boy. 

“Yeah, and we have eleven more to go! If I get one more order to meditate, I am going to scream!” 

Matt’s patience finally topped out. He threw his covers off, ready to silence Joe by force, but Tai grabbed his arm before he could do anything. Tai shook his head disapprovingly, which Matt huffed at before settling down once again with the covers over his bare torso. 

Next to him, TK looked asleep, but his brother wanted to check just to be sure. TK breathed softly, his eyes shut tight, and his mouth slightly open. Matt closed his mouth so he wouldn’t wake up with a sore throat in the morning before ruffling the boy’s hair softly. 

“Ok, let’s all settle down for sleep,” Sora softly said, trying to defuse the tension that arose. “We’ve all got to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow.” 

Everyone else echoed an ‘ok’ back before settling into their futons, thankful to finally rest more than two hours for the first time in a few days. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sora’s Dreams 

“Why can’t you understand?!” a young Sora cried, her hands clenched into tight fists as tears ran down her face. 

“Honestly, Sora, you are just like your father,” her mother retorted. 

“Well good! I would rather be more like him than you!” 

“Sora-“ 

“GO TO HELL!” 

The sound of a door slamming echoed. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sora snapped out of her dream with a gasp. Her heavy breathing echoed throughout the entire room as she surveyed her surroundings, assuring herself that it was only a dream, and nothing more. Everyone else was either snoring or breathing softly as they drifted away in Dreamland, completely unaware of the auburn haired girl’s plight. 

A cold wetness on her face caught her attention, raising her hand to touch it. A stray tear slid down her finger until it reached the back of her hand. The trauma of the dream finally caught up to her as she curled her knees into her chest and softly began to cry. 

It happened two years ago, but the memory was still fresh. Sora had been playing on an all-girls soccer team, and they were about to play the championship game when she fell with a sprained ankle that sidelined her for weeks. Determined to fight through the pain for her teammates, she begged her mother to let her go, but she was steadfast in her belief that Sora shouldn’t play. She then dropped the bomb on her: Mrs. Takenouchi wanted her to stop playing soccer and work in the family flower shop instead. That had been the final straw, and Sora stormed out with a few words she shouldn’t have said. 

Sometimes she wondered if her mother even cared about what she had to say, or even loved her. 

Sora loved her father most, compared to her mother, but he was never around a lot due to his work taking him away for months at a time. The times they did spend together were some of the best she ever had. He would always take her out for an ice cream whenever she felt sad, spoil her with trips to Disneyland, Shibuya, and tours of the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, while he was gone, she was at her mother’s mercy with no way out until he finally showed up at the door to make things right again. 

Soon no more tears were left to be shed, and Sora settled down onto the bed to try and have more pleasant dreams. 

Little did she suspect that someone had sensed her distress. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A cowbell echoed as it rang at impossible levels, easily jolting the kids from sleep. 

“Rise and shine!” Gennai’s voice followed. “Daylight’s burning! Wake up, kids!” 

Groans arose as they slowly gathered themselves for the day ahead. Sleep kept a tight grip on their brains, not wanting to let go, like a bulldog with a newspaper in its mouth. Despite themselves, the kids rubbed their eyes free of the disorientation to appear bright-eyed for Gennai. 

“I don’t believe we ordered a wake-up call,” Mimi yawned as she stretched her arms. 

“Mimi, not so loud,” Izzy groaned, his eyes still half-shut. All he could see were black and white spots flashing like fireworks before his eyes, making everything blurry. “It’s too early for this.” 

“Feels like I got run over by a truck,” Matt rubbed the back of his neck while gently rousing TK awake. 

“I think that cowbell could wake the dead,” Tai yawned as well, throwing his arms back like he was preparing to throw a soccer ball. 

“I trust you all slept well,” said the old man, glancing at Sora out of the corner of his eye. “Because now it is time for the second phase of your training: how to properly wield a lightsaber. Come with me to the dojo.” 

Deep inside herself, Sora had the strangest feeling that he knew about last night. The look he gave her said it all: he read her thoughts and sensed the distress within her. It unsettled her just how mystical the Force could be. 

The kids zombie-walked as they followed Gennai out of the house and into the garden. The sun barely rose over the horizon, ensuring plenty of darkness to cover the entire property while yielding small rays of light to their backs. Walking over the cobblestone bridge, they arrived at the other side of the property. 

Their eyes widened when they saw what was inside after Gennai slid the doors open: a wide room covered with tatami mats, banners with kanji characters on the far side, and shinais lined up on the near wall. The sleepy feeling washed away once they saw the sticks, heightening their excitement for what was to come. 

“Come inside,” Gennai ordered, stepping aside so the children could walk in. 

They settled on the ground with their legs crossed, trying to keep their posture straight so they wouldn’t fall asleep. 

“Welcome to the second part of your training,” Gennai greeted with a pleasant smile that masked a sadistic undertone. He always enjoyed this part of the training the most, in more ways than one. “Today, you learn how to use the most powerful tool a Jedi can have at their disposal: the lightsaber. You have successfully learned how to sense and use the Force to your advantage, but using the Force is not enough. You must learn how to handle yourself in hand-to-hand combat situations, a la Devimon. If you hope to defeat him, and any other evil Digimon that comes your way, proper technique is required.” 

Loud snoring interrupted him before he continued on. Everyone looked to the middle to see Tai hanging his head to his left side, snoozing away peacefully. 

“TAI!” 

The boy snorted before wildly snapping his head back to attention. 

“AH! The dam’s burst! Man the lifeboats! Women and me first!” he cried, earning laughter from the other kids and a glare from Gennai. “What?” 

“Since you appear so eager to begin our lessons,” Gennai drawled with a roll of his eyes. “Why don’t you come up here for a little demonstration.” 

Looking around, unsure of what the old man had in mind, Tai hesitantly stood up from his seated position and moved to the front of the room. Something told him that whatever Gennai wanted to do, it wasn’t going to be good. 

“Think fast!” 

Tai snapped out of his stupor just in time to catch the shinai that was thrown to him. He looked at it curiously as he got a feel for the grip. The stick was two feet long, reminding him of a katana, and the bamboo on the blade was smooth to the touch. 

“Why are we using shinais?” he asked. “Why don’t we just use our lightsabers?” 

“Because I don’t want someone to lose a limb,” Gennai replied. “It won’t do any good for my reputation.” 

Tai shrugged, guessing he could buy that explanation. He adjusted the stick in his grip before pointing it towards the old man across from him. 

“Now show me what you’ve got.” 

Tai couldn’t help but release a chuckle. “Ok, but don’t think I’m going to go easy on…” 

POW! BAM! THWACK!

The attacks came so quickly that Tai did not have any time to react to them. The first strike knocked his shinai out of his hand, followed by a whack to the arm, back, and chest, before having his legs swept out from under him. He hit the ground with a loud thud, then saw Gennai’s shinai pointed directly between his eyes. 

“Rule number one,” the old man hissed. “Never let your guard down against your opponent.” 

The kids watched the scene with silent, awed expressions at what had just happened. For an old man, Gennai was extremely agile and moved as fast as a bullet train in his attacks. 

“Whoa!” TK gasped, his face glowing with awe. 

Mimi and Sora vainly tried to suppress their giggles, but couldn’t help it and giggled noisily. 

“Maybe that’ll teach you to be a little less overconfident, Tai,” said Sora. 

“Oh shut up!” Tai shot a dirty look back. He looked up at Gennai and the stick between his eyes. 

“How did you do that?” 

“I may be old, but I have spent centuries mastering the art of Ataru,” said Gennai, removing his stick from Tai’s face to allow the boy to get to his feet. “That is the fourth form of ligthsaber combat.” 

Tai sat down without another peep, not wanting a repeat performance of what he went through. 

“There are seven classical forms of lightsaber combat: Shii-Cho, the basics of striking; Makashi, the basics of dueling; Soresu, defense; Ataru, as I just showed you, is fast and effective offense that your enemies cannot defeat; Shien and Djem So, a combination of both with emphasis on either defense or offense; Niman, every form in one; and Juyo is the most aggressive form of combat, but I will not be showing you that one.” 

Matt cocked an eyebrow. “Why not?” 

“Because its aggressive nature could lead you down the path of the dark side,” Gennai warned, sensing the older blonde-haired boy’s interest. “As I was saying, I will show you every other form in order to feel what type of fighting style suits you, because everyone has a different preference.” 

The entire room was silent as the kids paid close attention to what he was saying. Judging them individually, Gennai could sense their personality types, giving him a good idea of what style would fit them. When he came to Matt, however, he could sense a dark cloud within him. There was so much conflict that the old man feared the boy could succumb to the darkness growing within him if he didn’t do something. 

He finally spoke. 

“Each of you grab a shinai and I will show you the Shii-Cho form,” he instructed. 

The kids followed orders and stood at attention with the stick swords at their sides, while Gennai stood at the front of the room with his. 

“The basics of Shii-Cho come from the six angles of attack on the human body,” he explained, holding his shinai like a katana with two hands, which the kids copied. “The head, arms and sides, legs, and back. You learn to target those areas due to the damage you can inflict on an opponent. Now follow along with every strike I make. Head.” 

Gennai swung his shinai over his head before bringing it down swiftly. He called out each body part as he performed each appropriate attack for that area: a side cut towards the arms, a wrap-around attack to the back, and slashes to the legs. The kids followed along flawlessly, looking like martial artists as they sailed through the progression, picking up speed as they went along until the shinais zipped and flew through the air with precision. 

After a few more cycles, Gennai felt they were ready to move on to defense. 

“Now that you have learned how to attack, it is now time to learn how to defend yourself,” he said. “Once you have learned that, you all will be allowed to spar.” 

“What does that mean?” Mimi asked, not knowing what the word meant. 

“It’s basically practice fighting,” explained Sora. “It helps keep your battle skills sharp.” 

“Oh.” Mimi’s eyes widened in realization. 

“Now follow exactly what I do, just like what you did before,” Gennai instructed before showing the Jedi-in-training how to block each attack. 

Just like earlier, the kids went through each block that he showed them several times slowly until feeling confident enough to do it with some speed, while still retaining the fluidity of their motions. 

“Ok, let’s spar. Get yourself a partner.” 

They did not need to be told twice as they all split off into pairs: Matt and Tai, the girls, and Joe and Izzy, leaving poor TK as the odd man out. 

“Gennai, I don’t have a partner,” the young boy said, raising his hand. 

“It’s ok, my young friend,” the old man smiled warmly. “I just want you to observe for now. You’ll get to be a part of it, I promise.” 

TK smiled softly with a nod before strolling over to Gennai to sit beside him, paying close attention to what he was about to see as he shook with excitement. 

“Matt, Tai, you’re up first.” 

The two boys stood across from each other, giving a bow in respect before holding their shinais in the Shii-Cho stance. Tai smirked while Matt kept a neutral, focused look, worrying only about the task at hand. 

“Ready, go!” 

Tai struck swiftly right out of the gate, keeping Matt on his toes as he blocked each attack. As Tai went for a leg strike, Matt blocked it with ease and gave Tai a soft whack to the head, stunning him for a good second. He then pressed the attack this time, forcing Tai to be on the defensive. 

Gennai watched as the duel moved back and forth at a brisk pace, observing the both of them. Matt was clearly the more methodical of the two, while Tai had the most ferocity when it came to attacking. He already could tell that Djem So would be the style for Matt due to the power of his strikes, but also having the sense of mind for defense as well. 

Tai, however, was wired to attack whenever he could; any opening he would get to attack, he would take, no matter what position he found himself in. It could be effective, but it could also be a weakness. 

Just as he thought that, a strike from Matt knocked Tai’s shinai from his hand. The blonde then pointed his sword at Tai’s throat. 

“Ok, boys, that’s good,” Gennai said, signifying that the duel was over. “Overall, you have good flow to your attacks. Matt, don’t be afraid to press the attack when you have your opponent backed into a corner.” 

Matt nodded in understanding. 

“Tai, have some respect for defense, why don’t you? It’ll save your life one of these days.” 

Tai hung his head in disappointment, but nodded nonetheless to show he understood. He and Matt returned to their spots on the floor without another word and watched as everyone else went. 

During Joe and Izzy’s sparring match, Joe did nothing but block each attack that came his way, while Izzy was a good balance between offense and defense. Occasionally, Joe would unleash a counterstrike, but he was all too content to defend. Gennai could tell that he would be a more defense-oriented lightsaber user, while Izzy would be a balanced duelist. He already knew what forms they would specialize in: Soresu for Joe, and Niman for Izzy. 

The girls were more even and cautious during their duel, with Sora dictating most of the pace, but she would neither attack too much or defend too much; she was a perfect balance. The same applied for Mimi, though Gennai sensed she did not like to fight as much as Sora did. He would have to work around that. Overall, he deduced that they would be Niman users due to their balance between offense and defense. 

“Ok, everyone,” he said once their sparring match was over. “That’s it for this session. We’ll meet back here this afternoon. Good work.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Breakfast was a quiet affair as the kids all went back to their room for their mandated meditation sessions. Gennai made it clear to them that in order to become stronger with the Force, they were to meditate at least five times a day for half an hour. It sounded excessive, but they didn’t question it. 

The room was covered in darkness due to the blinds on the windows preventing sunlight from streaming in. In-between the cracks of the blinds were dark pieces of cloth that blocked the rays of sunlight that would try to sneak into the room, providing the children with the best meditation atmosphere possible. The symbols on their arms glowed dimly as their concentration deepened. Traditional Japanese music played softly in the background as their slow, controlled breaths took over the room. 

Matt inhaled through his nose and then exhaled through it slowly, a peaceful feeling washing over his entire body like a wave crashing on the shore. The presence of everyone’s Force energy around him helped calm him. He never had much in the way of companionship throughout his life, so this was definitely a different experience for him. He was ambivalent about going to summer camp, but he did not expect to be where he was right now. 

His thoughts turned from that to what Gennai had said earlier. 

“Juyo is the most aggressive form of combat, but I will not be showing you that one because its aggressive nature could lead you down the path to the dark side.” 

Matt felt this uneasy feeling when Gennai had said that, like it was meant for him. If such a form was so powerful, what was the key to learning how to apply it? If he could learn it, then maybe he could be the most powerful Destined Jedi that ever lived, and cure this loneliness that ate at him his entire life. 

“Ok, children, your time is up,” Gennai announced, sliding open the door just a tad so he could peak into the room. “We will meet back in the dojo in one hour, so be ready.” 

He then turned to look at Matt. 

“Matt, care to have a word with me for a moment?” he asked with a seriousness that gave Matt the feeling if he refused, something horrible would happen to him. 

“Ok.” 

Matt quickly followed before Gennai could physically remove him from the room. Gennai led him down the hallway, out of the house, and into the garden, stopping in front of the pond. The koi fish swam in the pond without a care in the world. Sometimes Matt wished he could be more like them, rather than being himself. 

He couldn’t restrain his impatience anymore as he asked, “What did you want to talk to me about?” 

“Patience, my young friend,” the old man replied as he sat with his legs folded. “Come. Sit.” 

Not taking his eyes off the koi fish for a second, Matt sat down next to Gennai, letting his thoughts wander as many things began to manifest themselves beneath the surface of his heart. Not only the loneliness he felt, but also the resentment and anger towards his family. 

“Be mindful of your thoughts, Matt,” the sound of Gennai’s voice shattered his concentration. “I can see right through you, no matter what you think, so nothing you try to hide from me is safe.” 

Matt scoffed. “Who gave you permission to be my psychiatrist?” he answered with outright hostility. 

Gennai bristled at the tone of his voice, but continued with his explanation. He had dealt with this kind of behavior before, and it certainly would not be the last. 

“The fear in your heart is what is holding you back. Oh yes, I sense much fear in you. Fear is the path to the…” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Matt interrupted with a roll of his eyes, having heard this before. “Fear is the path to the dark side. Whatever, Yoda.” 

A burst of pain shot through his head as a rock made contact with his cranium, causing him to press his hand against it. 

“Ow! What’d you do that for?!” 

“If you are not willing to listen to what I have to say, then there is no sense in training you further, Matt Ishida,” Gennai said in the harshest voice he could muster. “I know what troubles you, and I can help, but you have to let me in. I know it must be hard, but you need to learn to rely on others. You don’t have to be the man of the house around here, Matt.” 

Matt’s eyes widened. “How do you know that?” 

The old man exhaled sharply. “I know a lot more than you think. You never felt like you could truly be yourself, like you had to put on an act to fool everyone. But now that you have friends around you, you’re not sure how to handle the situation because you’ve never been close to anyone before.” 

Matt was silent the whole time he spoke. Gennai truly did know how he felt, and it felt good to have someone who could understand him. 

“What must I do, Gennai?” 

“Learn to love yourself before you can love others,” the old man responded. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That afternoon, the humming of lightsabers filled the dojo as the kids hacked, jumped, and swiped against invisible opponents, practicing their new techniques. 

Tai and Matt took to theirs with ease; using strong, controlled motions that also carried strength and power. Matt was practicing strictly Djem So, but while Tai also practiced the same style, he added Ataru to it, creating a hybrid that he called the “Tai-phoon technique.” 

When asked to explain why he called it this, he shrugged and said that like a typhoon, it was fast and powerful, but also controlled and centered. 

“Devimon better watch out,” he snarked. “Because soon, he’s going to get a taste of it.” 

Everyone else had varying degrees of success. 

Izzy and Sora took to the Niman style right away, with Izzy beginning to sprinkle some of the Shien style into his technique after Gennai showed him some moves. He wanted to achieve a perfect balance of attack and defense, but having an extra weapon in his arsenal didn’t hurt. Due to the Niman style allowing the user to focus on other aspects besides fighting, he and Sora worked together to come up with blocks and special attacks that put their own spin on it. 

Joe spun his lightsaber around defensively until his wrist started to hurt. His style was the exclusively defensive Soresu. To avoid a repeat of when Devimon slashed him on the calf, he focused in on guarding swiftly and efficiently, so that no attack could get through to him. He would occasionally do a vertical or diagonal cut so that he could take advantage of when an opponent would tire out. 

Mimi, on the other hand, struggled to accept the idea that she would have to fight. If she thought that having to destroy the Dark Gear in that horse on Infinity Mountain was scary, then she wanted nothing to do with actual combat, where her life and those of her friends would be at stake. She tested every single inch of Gennai’s patience, but he finally got her to practice her technique. As long as they avoided combat as much as possible, she didn’t see why she couldn’t do it either. 

TK finally got his chance to get in on the action, practicing the same Shii-Cho basics that Gennai had shown the group earlier. His lightsaber blade was a bright blue, about the same shade as Tai and Sora’s lightsabers, unlike Joe’s pale blue one. Since he was still young, Gennai didn’t want him to learn anything too advanced yet, so he just had him practice Shii-Cho. That didn’t stop him from trying to copy Tai’s acrobatics though. 

Gennai watched with a gleam in his eye; they were learning at the rate he expected them to. By the time their training was done, they would be more than ready to handle what was to come. Despite his confidence, the old man sensed that something sinister and dark had yet to make its presence known. 

‘This is just the beginning.’


	12. Premonitions

The Dark Parthenon  
File Island

Devimon sat in deep meditation, concentrating all of his energy into sensing the Force energy around him. It had been a week and a half since he defeated the Destined Jedi, and almost destroyed TK, but he had the feeling they would be back soon, this time as fully trained Jedi. 

‘And when that moment comes, I will finish them off for good,’ he thought. 

Despite them not being on File Island anymore, he could still feel their presence far off on Server; their power was growing, and quickly. It didn’t make sense to him why his master wanted to simply destroy them when they could just take over the entire Digital World right now while they were away. 

“Devimon.” 

The evil Digimon opened his eyes to see a transmission of his master standing before him. The figure was outlined in blue, his face one of agitation, which Devimon did not take to be a good sign. 

“Master,” he bowed respectfully. “What do you desire from me?” 

“Time is running out, Devimon,” the figure replied harshly. “Soon the Destined Jedi will be fully trained and strong enough to stop us. Why didn’t you kill them while you had the chance?” 

Devimon cringed as his master’s tone rose with each sentence he spoke. 

“My lord, forgive me, but why do we need to destroy them now?” he asked. “Why don’t we just take over the Digital World first before they are fully trained? That way, we can destroy them after we have completed our mission.” 

“Silence! You had your chance to destroy them, but you decided to play games with them! If you fail me yet again, Devimon, I will not be so forgiving next time. Destroy them now so they will not stand in our way.” 

“Y-yes, Master Myotismon,” Devimon bowed until his forehead almost touched the ground. “I will do as you wish.” 

“Good.” 

The transmission then disappeared, leaving Devimon shaken by his master’s threat. It was not that he wasn’t trying to destroy the children, but they were an elusive bunch. He didn’t know where to begin looking for the children, but he knew someone who might. 

“Ogremon!” he roared. 

The green ogre came running in less than a second. 

“Yes, Lord Devimon?” he quickly dropped down to his knees and bowed. 

“Find the Destined Jedi, wherever they are, and kill them before they can complete their training,” Devimon ordered. “Master Myotismon does not wish to take any chances with their return. Can I trust you to do this?” 

Ogremon nodded rapidly like a bobble head doll. “Yes, Lord Devimon. I promise I will not let you down.” 

“For your sake, I hope not,” Devimon hissed, causing the ogre to cringe in fear. 

He then moved to the altar near his throne and picked up a square box before presenting it to Ogremon. 

“To help you on your task, I shall give you these.” 

He opened the box to reveal two lightsabers. The handles were smooth and curved, fitting well into Ogremon’s hands. Two red blades emerged once he activated them, bringing an evil smile to the ogre’s face. 

“Thank you, my lord,” he bowed in gratitude. 

“These are not for you to keep,” replied Devimon. “They are strictly to help you destroy the Destined Jedi, so you better make the most of this opportunity.” 

“Oh I will. You can be sure of that.” 

“I hope so.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gennai’s House  
Server

A week had passed, and things were going smoothly for the Destined Jedi. They practiced their saber techniques almost every hour of the day until they felt like masters of their own style. After a feeling out period of three days, it became second nature to them and they were doing it without thinking. 

Even little TK was starting to get the hang of using his lightsaber and commanding the Force. For someone so young, Gennai could feel the strength that lurked beneath him, something he knew would blossom one day. Matt took it upon himself to work with him, thinking that having someone he trusted work with him would yield better results, and so far it worked. 

It was also during this time that they began to bond with their crystals in order to unlock greater power, like Leomon had explained to them when he brought them to Server. Gennai explained that the way to achieve this bond was through meditation; it took the highest amount of concentration because the crystal was itself a living thing, and could sense whatever the wielder was feeling. If done correctly, the Jedi would feel a great rush of power coming from the symbols in their arms and be able to do the most incredible things that the legends could never explain. 

Izzy also cracked the code on the woodcarvings of the creatures that Gennai had shown him. After many long nights, some lasting until three or four in the morning, he found out four other creatures’ names and what they represented: Gabumon, the Digimon of Friendship; Biyomon, the Digimon of Love; Gomamon, the Digimon of Reliability; and Palmon, the Digimon of Sincerity. Judging by the symbols that were associated with them, he could tell these Digimon were associated with Matt, Sora, Joe, and Mimi. 

All that was left for him was the dinosaur, the guinea pig, and the cat. With a few days left, he was confident he would finish in time. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“The Digimon of Courage.” 

Izzy let out a loud yawn as everyone else continued to sleep in the other room, just past the sliding door. After waking someone up in the middle of the night every time he would work, Izzy knew he had to find a new place to decipher the digicode. Thankfully, Gennai was more than happy to loan him the spare bedroom that was directly attached to their room, which gave him plenty of privacy but also allowed for him to quietly go to bed without disturbing anyone. 

Pressing a few keys on his laptop, Izzy dragged the screen shot he made of the digicode above the carving of the dinosaur and aligned it with a document he made that allowed him to translate each letter into kanji. He developed the program to help him translate it quickly and more efficiently rather than going to the painstaking task of looking off a book of translations that Gennai gave him. 

After a few more seconds, the name appeared in clear kanji. 

Agumon. 

Izzy then saw the sun symbol to the carving’s right, and quickly concluded that this Digimon was connected to Tai. He let out a sigh of relief, happy that the day’s work was finally over. It was time to go to sleep. 

He shut his laptop, then rubbed his eyes. His brain felt like fried ramen due to it being almost two o’clock in the morning and from staring at his computer screen for an extended period of time. 

Stopping into the bathroom to relieve himself and get a sip of water, Izzy silently slid the door to the bedroom open. He was greeted by the sounds of everyone’s soft breathing as they slept peacefully. The tatami mats hid his steps well as he snuck over to his futon, which was the nearest to the door and right next to Sora, and settled in under the covers without making too much noise. Because of how tired he was, he quickly dozed off to sleep. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The cool evening air nipped at Tai’s face. 

Looking around, he found himself on the balcony outside of his room back at home, with a view of the Rainbow Bridge and Odaiba Beach that could be considered the best in the entire district. 

“I can’t believe it!” he exclaimed, a smile starting to rise on his face. “I’m home!” 

Before he could celebrate this fact, a sound from behind him made its presence known. It sounded like his family’s cat, Miko, but he still turned around to look. 

“Miko?” he called. “Here, kitty, kitty.” 

Instead of Miko, Tai saw what looked to be a humanoid creature with a wizard’s hat that covered its brown hair. The front of the hat was adorned with a skull, leaving Tai to wonder if it was real or not. 

In front of the wizard, a white cat with yellow green gloves that were tipped with sharp claws, and purple tips at the ends of its ears, stood with its paw stretched. Tai’s eyes widened when he saw that it had a lightsaber in its possession. Could it be that this was the eighth Jedi that he and the others had been hearing about? 

A hand stretched out to take the saber, which his eyes glued to. He followed the arm up to look at the face of the person whom it belonged to…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Tai, wake up!” 

Tai’s eyes snapped open at the call of his name. Looking up, he saw that he was back at Gennai’s house, rather than his family’s apartment. Suddenly, it hit him: He had dreamt that whole thing. Even with that thought, he couldn’t help but feel as though it was an event that was yet to come, for they still had yet to find this eighth Destined Jedi. 

He turned and saw that Sora was the one who had called his name, her crimson eyes looking at him with concern. 

“S-Sora?” he asked as he registered what was going on around him. Everyone else had gotten up and left the room by this point, leaving just the two of them alone. 

“Are you ok?” she asked. “You were talking in your sleep. Was it a bad dream?” 

Tai groaned slightly as he sat up, exposing his bare torso to the girl as the comforter fell unceremoniously to his lap. 

“I’m not sure,” he replied. “It was just a weird dream.” 

“Mind telling me about it?” 

He threw the covers off of him to get up and start putting his clothes on. Sora wasn’t going to let him get away with that, though, for she hounded him like a hawk. 

“No thanks,” he replied as he threw his shirt on. “It’s not important.” 

Sora threw him an admonishing look, like ones his mother would give him when she knew he was lying. 

“Come on, Tai. You know I know you better than that,” she smirked. “Your thoughts betray you as well.” 

Tai stood in silence for a good ten seconds, wondering just what it was that caused Sora to read his mind. Ever since they were young, she always seemed to know what he was thinking, even if it wasn’t clear as day. It scared him sometimes. 

Finally, he opened his mouth to respond. 

“I think I may know who this eighth Destined Jedi is. I had a vision of a wizard-like Digimon and a white cat presenting a lightsaber to someone.” 

“Who was it?” 

“I don’t know. I didn’t see their face.” 

“Then why did you say that you may know who it was?” Sora retorted with a smirk, knowing she was painting him into a corner. 

“Something inside of me says that the eighth Jedi may be closer than we think. Someone we would least suspect.” 

“That doesn’t really help much, I’m afraid,” she replied sadly. 

Resting a hand on his shoulder, she led him out of the room into the hallway towards the living room for breakfast. 

Everyone else had already started eating by the time the two of them arrived. Gennai smiled at them. 

“Good morning,” he greeted. 

Tai and Sora nodded back in greeting. 

“Good morning.” 

Tai’s plate was soon full of food: a small bowl of rice, a thin slice of salmon with miso to go along with it, and a small omelet, along with other vegetables. A cup of hot green tea completed the meal as he settled in to eat. 

“Holy cow!” he exclaimed after taking a bite of his omelet. “What’s in this food? Seriously! It’s so good.” 

Everyone chortled slightly at his antics as they ate, paying more attention to their food than starting a conversation. No one complained, though, as only the clatter of chopsticks against the bowls of rice resonated throughout the room. 

Gennai glimpsed up from his meal to look at Tai sitting across from him. The old man sensed that something was bothering him, something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. 

Tai was unnerved by the glare that Gennai looked at him with, like he was staring right into his very soul. 

“Is there a problem, Gennai?” he asked. 

The old man shook his head. 

“No, there’s no problem.” 

Shrugging his shoulders, Tai continued to eat his breakfast. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Smoke rose from the ruins of what used to be a building. Rubble lay all around the foundation, a large gaping hole in the side giving a glimpse of the hallways and offices that were inside. 

Tai could not believe what he was seeing. It was like a bad dream, but it was indeed real. 

All around him, destruction was everywhere; fractures in the road so deep that he could see all the way down to the sewer beneath, road signs and traffic lights lay in a messed up tangle of wires and metal, cars were flipped upside down destroyed, train tracks were derailed, and fog lay thick over the entire district of Odaiba. 

Looking closer, what Tai saw next almost made him heave with disgust: Scores of dead bodies lay underneath fallen rubble. So many people that were beloved by someone would never get the chance to be with them again. 

A loud, cold, evil laugh broadcasted itself all over the ruined district, but before Tai could turn around to find the source of it, everything faded out of focus.   
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Tai!” 

Tai found himself lying on the floor, twitching as if a demon had tried to possess his body, and breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon. Opening his eyes, he saw everyone standing over him with concerned looks on their faces. Gennai was the closest to him with his hand pressed against Tai’s forehead. 

“Come with me,” he said, his tone serious as a heart attack. “Now.” 

Gennai roughly grabbed his hand and pulled Tai up from the ground before leading him out of the dojo. Everyone else resumed their meditation without a word of protest, channeling their Force energy to focus on bonding with their lightsaber crystals. 

Once Tai and Gennai left, TK opened one eye to make sure that no one was watching. A playful smirk worked its way onto his young features as he brought his hand up to his mouth. Over the past week and a half, between meditation sessions and practicing their saber techniques, they hadn’t had any time to have fun, and because of that, everyone was off balance. 

TK chortled silently to try and keep his intentions hidden. The kids may have had a week and a half’s worth of training in using the Force to sense everything going on around them, but they couldn’t do it on a consistent basis yet, thus giving the young boy an opportunity. 

Poot!

Matt was the first to open his eyes and look for the source of the noise. 

“Who did that?” 

The sound of TK trying to contain his laughter then caught his ears. He turned his head to give the younger blonde an admonishing look as TK looked up at him. 

“TK, don’t do that,” he said sternly. “Grow up!” 

TK looked down in contrition, twiddling his thumbs rapidly as he tried to come up with an explanation. Matt then chuckled. 

“Don’t do it if you’re not going to do it right,” he smirked. “Let me show you how the big boys do it.” 

Taking a deep breath, Matt blew into his hand, unleashing the best and loudest fart imitation that he could. TK doubled over in hysterics, pounding the ground as hard as his little fist would allow. Tears began running down his cheeks, his stomach also started to hurt. 

“You guys are so immature,” Sora cried out in disgust. 

BURP!

She quickly covered her mouth, uttering an “excuse me” in reflex. Izzy joined Matt and TK in their howling laughter after trying to keep a straight face for a second. 

“Good one, Sora,” TK gasped due to his laughter. 

Sora’s blush gave way as her lips quivered before giggles began to escape. After trying to keep them contained, she realized it was futile and unleashed them in full-blown laughter. 

Mimi and Joe wrinkled their noses in disgust at the juvenile display. They calmed their minds to try and focus again on their meditation, but everyone’s laughter made that hard.

“Guys, what are you, five years old?” Joe chastised them. “Grow up.” 

“Don’t be such a prude, Joe,” Matt gasped, his sides hurting from all the laughing he had been doing. 

“I’m not,” the bespectacled boy huffed. “I’m just being the mature one; someone has to be.” 

BRAP! 

The room fell deathly silent as the fart echoed through the entire dojo. All eyes were on Joe as his face slowly turned red in embarrassment. 

“That wasn’t me.” 

The room again erupted in howling laughter, this time Joe and Mimi laughed right along with them. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Into the house and down the hallway Tai and Gennai went before stopping in front of Gennai’s quarters. Compared to the kids’ room, it was much smaller, but then again it was only him sleeping in there. 

“Sit down,” Gennai ordered, plopping himself down into a lotus position. 

Tai followed orders, though he was confused as to what was going on. 

“What did you see?” 

“What are you talking about?” Tai asked, unsure of what Gennai was asking him. 

“You know exactly what I am talking about,” the old man replied in a no-nonsense tone of voice. “You were seeing the future, were you not?” 

“The future?” 

“Yes. It is not uncommon for Force users to sense the future at any given point, but you must be careful with how you proceed with it. The fear of the unknown could lead you down the wrong path. Now tell me about this premonition you were having.” 

Tai closed his eyes as the trauma of what he saw came back to him. He was uncomfortable talking about it because he didn’t understand exactly what he had seen. 

“So much destruction,” he whispered, a tear slowly sliding down his cheek. “Death, suffering, nothing left.” 

“Where was it?” 

Tai took a deep breath to get his emotions under control, wiping the tears away with his gloved hand, before answering. 

“I’m not sure. I couldn’t make it out too well. All I heard was an evil laugh that sent chills down my spine and then it was over.” 

Gennai let this information soak into his mind. No doubt that Tai was having premonitions of what may be, but he wondered if something much larger than themselves was behind it. 

“Gennai, may I ask you something?” 

“Ask away, my young friend.” 

“Is it possible that whatever happens here can affect the real world as well?” 

Gennai was taken aback by this question. If he had to make a guess, he would say that Tai had seen a vision of the real world being destroyed by some evil Digimon. The laugh he mentioned hearing certainly fit the mold for that assumption. 

“Yes,” he finally answered. “What happens in the Digital World can also have consequences on your world. Why do you ask?” 

“Because last night, I had another vision. I believe that it involved who the eighth Destined Jedi could be.” 

Tai told Gennai the story of what he saw; the white cat standing before someone with a lightsaber in its paw and the hand stretched out to take the lightsaber. Before he could get a look at them, it was over. As he sat and listened, Gennai was elated to get a glimmer of the missing chosen one’s location. 

“So what must I do next?” Tai asked after he finished. 

“You leave that to me,” replied the old man. “Right now, go back with the others and meditate. Get this off of your mind.” 

Tai bowed respectfully before walking out of the room. 

As Gennai contemplated this, he felt a chill go down his spine as darkness began to creep its way into his Force energy. Whatever Tai was seeing, it only spelled trouble on the horizon. 

When Tai returned to the dojo, all he heard were farting sounds and hysterical laughter. Confused as to what was going on, he stepped inside to investigate. 

What he saw were bodies spread across the floor, pounding the floor, some even had tears streaming down their faces due to how hard they were laughing. 

To get their attention, Tai cleared his throat loudly. The laughter ceased and everyone pulled themselves together in order to appear as though they were focusing. 

Tai looked at Matt, who answered, “If Gennai asks, we were meditating the whole time.” 

He shrugged and sat down to resume his meditation, wondering just what exactly happened while he was away.


	13. The Jedi of Love

“Ready, go!” 

Tai and Matt circled each other slowly, never taking their eyes off of each other. Their lightsabers hummed with energy, ready to be released at the drop of a hat as they sized each other up like sumo wrestlers. 

This morning, Gennai decided to have them spar some more to make up for lost time from yesterday. Tai still found it hard to accept that he was having premonitions, mostly because he had been able to see things before they happen before, though not as vividly as he did the previous day. 

“Want the first attack, Matt?” he smirked. 

“No thank you,” returned the blonde, who had just as big of a smirk as him. “Ladies first. I insist.” 

“Very well then. You better not regret it.” 

Tai somersaulted towards Matt with a growl of determination, showing off his newfound acrobatics. He slashed his saber forward with blinding speed, which Matt quickly blocked. Unlike the first time they sparred, Tai was ready to defend Matt’s counterattack and brushed it aside as Matt went for a strike towards the head, using his acrobatics and heightened reflexes to avoid his attacks. 

Due to his background as a soccer player, Tai had a good aerobic base with which to work from, so he didn’t get tired as easily from doing all of his fast evasions. Using this to his advantage, he was able to easily frustrate Matt because he couldn’t land a clean shot. 

Sensing an opening, Tai stopped evading and began to press the attack, overwhelming Matt with a barrage of attacks that the blonde struggled to defend against due to expanding so much energy in trying to attack Tai. The two then locked themselves in a saber lock, looking each other dead in the eyes. 

As Matt began to gain a small advantage, Tai kicked him in the mid-section to force him back. Seizing the opportunity, he leapt towards him as he brought his lightsaber down from above his head. The amount of force from the attack knocked Matt’s lightsaber out of his hand, sending it scattering along the floor as he fell. Tai pointed his lightsaber at Matt’s throat, signifying that the match was over. 

“Need a lift?” Tai offered his hand out for Matt to grab, panting heavily from the amount of energy he used. 

The blonde haired boy hesitantly grabbed his hand, which allowed Tai to pull him up. The goggle-headed boy then gave him a pat on the back, which he reciprocated to show respect. Matt then used the Force to call his lightsaber back to his hand. 

“Nice work, boys,” Gennai praised, clapping in awe of the performance he had seen from them. “The two of you are getting stronger than when you first got here. Tai, way to be resourceful when it comes to defense. Ataru can provide a great defense if you know how to use it. Great job.” 

Tai bowed in appreciation with a beaming smile. 

“Matt, I like what I saw from you. The fluidity of your attacks is getting better, and your tenacity is really showing. You got caught in a bad situation there at the end because you chased ghosts rather than waiting for Tai to make the first move. Work on that.” 

Matt nodded in understanding. 

“Ok, Gennai.” 

“Good. Now I think you kids have earned a good bite to eat. Let’s get some food.” 

“Hooray!” the kids all cried as they rushed from the dojo faster than squirrels on caffeine. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Eight bowls of ramen lined the kotatsu table, filled with thin slices of pork, scallions, egg, and a small bit of lemon to add a shot of citrus to the flavor of the bowl. The broth was rich and thick, good enough that it could stand on its own without the noodles. 

Due to the energy they had expanded all morning, the kids dove into the noodles like a pack of wolves going for caribou carcass, stuffing their faces and slurping the noodles to get the full flavor circulating through their taste buds. Over the past almost two weeks, the kids really started to love Gennai’s ramen bowls; they almost beat all the noodle shops in Odaiba by a mile. 

“Man, I can’t believe we’ll be done in just a couple days,” said Tai as he sipped the broth. “I’m really gonna miss cooking like this. These ramen bowls are fantastic, Gennai.” 

The old man smiled. 

“I’m glad you all like it. Have as much as you want.” 

“Thank you!” they all cried happily. 

Soon the kids were laying on the floor, completely stuffed from three helpings of ramen. Loud moans escaped their lips as their stomachs felt like they were going to burst due to all the food they ate. It was like Thanksgiving came early. 

Izzy was the first to sit up, shaking his head to get the sleepiness out of him. After staying up late again the previous night, he finally figured out the last creature. Its name was Patamon, and it was known as the Digimon of Hope. Through the symbol next to the carving, Izzy deduced that it was connected to TK. He couldn’t figure out the other carving, but that one was going to take a long time since they had yet to discover the eighth Jedi. 

“Gennai, you’ll be happy to know that I have finally deciphered the carvings on the wall for you,” he reported happily. “After many long nights and countless cups of oolong tea, I managed to do it.” 

“Splendid! You have done me a great service, Izzy,” the old man’s smile grew even bigger. “What did they say?” 

Izzy cleared his throat as he began his explanation once everyone sat up as well. 

“What I found out over the course of the past week and a half was that these creatures represented a specific meaning that we all exemplify,” he explained. “The symbols next to the carvings are an identical match to the ones on our arms, which means they are connected to us in some fashion. This must be why we heard those voices over the course of our journey; it is these creatures talking to us.” 

“So that’s why you were always up so late,” Tai realized, finally understanding why Izzy would wake up so tired in the morning. 

“Does that mean we’ll get to meet them soon?” Mimi asked. 

“It is certainly possible, Mimi,” Izzy nodded, pulling his laptop out to show the picture of the wall for everyone to see. “Anyway, here is what they are called.” 

He pointed to the carving of the dinosaur. “This is Agumon, the Digimon of Courage; due to the symbol here, I have concluded that it is connected with you, Tai.” 

Tai looked between the symbol on the screen and the one on his arm. Sure enough, they were completely identical. 

“Wow,” he whispered breathlessly. “Courage.” 

“The wolf-like creature here is called Gabumon, and it is known as the Digimon of Friendship. That’s you, Matt.” 

“Friendship, huh?” the blonde looked down at his symbol, pondering the meaning. 

“This creature is called Tentomon, the Digimon of Knowledge, and is connected to me,” Izzy pointed to the bug before moving across the screen to the seal-like creature. “This is Gomamon, the Digimon of Reliability.” 

Joe took notice of the symbol next to the carving, understanding that he and this creature were connected to each other. Reliability sounded like a good way to describe him for he always tried to be a reliable voice of reason in the group. Trying to be and succeeding were completely different things though. 

“This plant-like creature is called Palmon, and is known as the Digimon of Sincerity. That’s you, Mimi.” 

“Sincerity,” Mimi muttered as she looked at the picture of the carving. Her hand began to drift towards the screen to touch it, but Izzy swatted her hand away gently. 

“Ow!” she cried, rubbing the place where Izzy smacked her. “That hurt!” 

“Sorry,” he apologized. “But please don’t touch my screen.” 

“You could have just asked nicely,” she huffed, folding her arms across her chest. 

Izzy then pointed to the guinea pig-like creature at the corner of the screen. 

“I just figured this one out last night,” he explained. “This is Patamon, the Digimon of Hope, which is meant for you, TK.” 

The youngest of the group gazed at the picture with a fascinated look, almost as if he had been hypnotized. Something told him that he had been waiting to meet this creature for a long time, but he couldn’t explain it. 

“Hope, huh? I sure hope we can get back home soon,” he said, which earned a chuckle from everyone else. 

“What about me, Izzy?” Sora asked, waiting patiently to find out which creature she was connected to. 

Izzy pointed to the carving of the bird. 

“For you, Sora,” he began. “This is Biyomon, the Digimon of Love.” 

Sora’s face instantly paled, looking as if she had gotten news that her family had been killed. In a sense, she felt as though she had been punched in the stomach. Love? There had to be some mistake. Why was she chosen to personify love when she didn’t know if she could feel any? 

“Sora, are you ok?” Tai asked, seeing the lost look on her face. “What’s the matter?” 

“That can’t be,” she shook her head furiously. “There has to be a mistake! Please tell me that this is a sick joke, Izzy. Maybe something got lost in translation. Check again please!” 

“Sora, calm down,” Tai said, trying to talk her down. Even though they had known each other their whole lives, she never freaked out like this in front of him before. Sora had always been the type to keep things to herself, so much that he has to pry things out of her the hard way. “Don’t get so bent out of shape. Why are you freaking out about this?” 

Sora slapped his hand away as he tried to put one on her shoulder. 

“Because love is not the way to describe me at all!” she shouted. 

“Sure it is,” he retorted. “You’re always thinking about everyone else and going out of your way for them, so I think it suits you perfectly.” 

“No it doesn’t! So, shut up and leave me alone!” 

After a second of silence, Sora snapped out of her anger-induced rant and gave Tai a remorseful look. 

“I’m sorry,” she said contritely, her eyes burning with angry tears. “It’s just that my symbol still hasn’t glowed yet, and I haven’t been able to connect with my lightsaber crystal.” 

“That’s because your spirit is unbalanced, Sora,” said Gennai, feeling the need to interject himself into this conversation. “The crystal can sense even the slightest hesitation, so you must be of sound mind in order to bond with it. Now what is it that has you unbalanced?” 

“It’s not important,” she grumbled, turning away from the table with her knees hugged in tight to her body. “Don’t worry about it.” 

“It is important,” Tai sat down in front of her, staring deep into her eyes with a seriousness that Sora rarely saw from him. “I’ve known you for a long time, Sora, and we’ve been through a lot together, but sometimes I just don’t get you. What is it that has you so bent out of shape?” 

Sora turned away to avoid his gaze, her eyes looking like a riverbank about to overflow with the amount of tears that were building up. 

“You really want to know?” she muttered. 

“Yes.” 

Taking a deep breath, she told the story of when she had played on an all-girls soccer team and was about to play the championship game when she sprained her ankle. She begged her mom to let her go so she could help the team, but Mrs. Takenouchi refused. Instead, she told Sora that she wanted her to work in the family flower shop rather than play soccer, no questions asked. Horrified, Sora then retorted with some words she shouldn’t have said and stormed out of the apartment for a good while. Soon she came across the soccer field, where her team had been defeated 6-3, and her teammates walked past her like zombies, not even acknowledging her presence. It made Sora feel as though she let them all down. Like it was her fault that they lost. 

No one said a word as she completed her story, for they were all too stunned to believe it. The tears in Sora’s eyes were now in free fall as the emotions of that day swirled through her like a destructive typhoon. 

“My mom said that I need to be a part of the family business, no question,” she sniffled. “It’s all she cares about, which makes me think she doesn’t give much thought for me. Like I don’t even matter to her.” 

Tai was floored by what he was hearing. All the time he had known Sora and her family, he always thought her mother was the sweetest woman he had ever met. Sure, she could be a little crisp sometimes, but he never had a bad encounter with her. 

“Your mom always seems so nice though,” he said. “I knew you guys had your problems, but never did I suspect something like that.” 

“Well, you try being her child for five minutes, Tai,” Sora growled. “Seeing her in passing and living with her are completely different things, especially since my dad is away all the time. Nothing I do is good enough for her!” 

Without warning, she pushed herself up from the floor, her loud sobs filling the air. As she pushed the screen door aside, she ran out into the courtyard and away from the house. 

“Sora!” Tai cried as he took a step forward to run after her, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him from going further. 

“Just let her cry it out, Tai,” Matt said, urging Tai with a look that told him it was best to leave her alone. “Let her get it out of her system and she’ll be back soon.” 

“But-“ 

“I’ve been in her shoes before. It’s best if you just let her work it out.” 

Tai exhaled a conflicted breath, feeling as though he should go after her but at the same time knowing that Matt was right. 

‘I just hope she’ll be ok.’ 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ogremon slashed a tree branch, knocking it out of his way as he tore through the forest, determined to find where the Destined Jedi were hiding to recover their strength. It had been two days since he began his pursuit of the Destined Jedi’s whereabouts and did not have a single lead to go off of. 

He may have been a Force-sensitive being, but Ogremon was by no means the brightest candle on the cake. Whenever Devimon would send him out to do a job, it was usually to find some Digimon that were making trouble on the island and put a stop to it, usually within their territory. On Server, he was completely out of his league; taking two days to cross a vast desert and slip through a forest, and having no idea where the Destined Jedi had gone. 

“Rrrrgh! Where are you stupid kids!” Ogremon growled to himself, his frustration starting to reach a peak. “Show yourselves so I can destroy you!” 

Rustling up ahead caught his attention. Sneaking quietly through the brush, he saw a female human running past him with tears in her eyes. A rush of Force energy alerted itself to him as she ran by. As he got a better look, he recognized her as one of the Destined Jedi. He couldn’t believe his luck. 

“Now Lord Devimon will have no choice but to give me a promotion for this,” he snickered as he quietly followed her while being hidden amongst the foliage. 

After a half-mile, the girl finally stopped in front of a tree. The tears in her eyes gave way to a forlorn look as she slid down into a sitting position, the bark on the tree scratching her back. Ogremon watched her for several minutes as she continued to sulk. 

‘Better get ready, little one,’ he thought as he quietly inched towards the tree she was at. ‘Because here I come.’ 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sora gazed at her lightsaber with a look of disgust. The Jedi of Love? It didn’t make any sense to her. As the sounds of the forest surrounded her, she was tempted to find the nearest lake and toss the lightsaber away. Then she could go home and not have anything to do with this, not that it would be much better. 

Now that she thought about it, perhaps her father just showed affection in order to soften the blow of him being away all the time. Maybe he didn’t love her as much as she thought he did, only believing he did because that’s what he wanted her to think. Her whole life started to make sense now. 

‘I have no love, and no one who was able to show me love throughout my life,’ she thought miserably as the tears streamed down her face some more. 

Clutching her lightsaber in her fist, she was ready to throw it deep into the forest so it could never be found, until the snapping of a twig broke her out of her stupor. Calming her mind, she used the Force to sense her surroundings, eventually feeling a high concentration of Force energy behind her. 

Before she could make a single move, the activation of two lightsabers fell upon her ears, followed by something landing on the dirt path with a thud. A familiar chuckle then made its presence known. 

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Ogremon cackled. “A Destined Jedi, primed and ready to fall to my awesome power.” 

Sora’s face cringed at the cheesiness of his words. He needed to learn how to be more threatening because it made him seem like a cartoon. 

“Ogremon,” she said, activating her lightsaber and holding it closer to her body to prepare for anything that the Digimon would try to do. “What are you doing here and why were you following me?” 

“I have orders from my master, Lord Devimon, to find and destroy you and your little pals,” he replied, flashing his twin red lightsabers. “And now I’ve found you. Once I finish you off, I’ll find the rest of your friends and destroy them before you can complete your training. After that, nothing will stand between my lord and complete domination of the Digital World.” 

Sora calmed her mind as she tried to balance herself. In order to defeat the ogre Digimon, she knew she had to be of sound mind. 

“You will do no such thing,” she retorted, wiping some stray tears from her face and clutching her lightsaber tight. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tai snapped out of his meditative state after sensing a disturbance in the Force. Something told him that it had to do with Sora, but he couldn’t confirm it. His Force abilities were getting stronger, but not strong enough yet that he could sense things clearly. 

He and the others had settled in for their third meditation session of the day, the drama with Sora earlier still fresh in their minds that they could hardly focus on the task at hand. He could tell that it was bothering everyone as well, not just him. 

“Sora’s in trouble,” he muttered. “I can sense it.” 

“Tai, please be quiet,” Matt whispered next to him. “We’re trying to focus. You should do the same.” 

“I can’t when I have the nagging suspicion that Sora could be in danger,” he hissed, showing his gritted teeth at the blonde. “We have to go help her.” 

“You’re probably still just upset about earlier,” Izzy put his two cents into the conversation. “I’m sure that Sora will be back in a little while. Don’t be so paranoid.” 

“Whatever,” Tai stood up from his seated position and walked towards the door to their room. “I’m not going to take any chances, Izzy. You guys want to stay, fine, but I’m going. You’re the Jedi of Friendship, Matt. Act like it!” 

Those words cut deep into Matt’s heart as Tai stormed out of the room, leaving him conflicted on how to approach the situation. On one side, he thought the goggle-headed boy was being borderline paranoid because even if Sora was in trouble, she was more than capable of defending herself. On the other side, in her emotional state, she would not be able to think clearly and thus would be more susceptible to making mistakes that could get her hurt, or even killed. 

Taking a deep breath, he concentrated on pinpointing Sora’s energy to see if Tai’s suspicions were correct. A great pain surrounded Sora’s aura, which he knew to be the turmoil within her, but a shiver also went down his spine as a dark energy began to make its presence known. It was an energy he hadn’t sensed, or he just ignored, before now. 

‘She’s in trouble.’ 

With a sigh of resolve, he made his choice. 

“Tai may be right,” he said. “I sense something is wrong with Sora as well. Come on, TK.” 

The younger blonde followed his brother out the door, anxious to finally put his newfound saber skills to work against a real opponent. 

Matt must have sensed his intentions because he said, “Don’t even think about it, kiddo. You stay behind me at all times.” 

“Aw! Come on, Matt!” TK pleaded. 

“No. I couldn’t live with myself if something were to happen to you. Remember Devimon?” 

The mention of that encounter sent a shiver down the young boy’s spine. Remembering how close he came to being killed at the hands of the evil Digimon was something he did not want to remember for as long as he lived. 

With a sigh, TK reluctantly yielded to his brother’s wish. “Ok.” 

“Now let’s go.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The forest resonated with the sound of lightsabers clashing echoing off of the trees and piercing the quiet atmosphere. 

Sora was holding her own quite well compared to previous encounters, but she was beginning to run out of energy due to the swiftness and ferocity of Ogremon’s attacks. He was unlike any opponent she had faced before. His dual lightsaber attack tested her to the limits of her training due to having to keep the second lightsaber in mind. 

She quickly dodged as Ogremon brought down the lightsaber in his right hand like a club and then tied up his other lightsaber in a lock. He then brought his other lightsaber into it, putting her against the strength of two lightsabers rather than one. Her heart pounded as it struggled to supply oxygen to her body, telling her that she wouldn’t last much longer if she kept it up at this rate. 

Drawing up whatever strength she could, she pushed their locked lightsabers to the side and broke into a sprint away from Ogremon as he slashed at air. Sora hid behind the nearest tree she could find to try and evade his detection, as well as catch her breath. 

“I know you’re there, Destined Jedi,” Ogremon’s sneering voice came. “You can’t hide forever.” 

Sora clamped her gloved hand over her mouth so that her breathing did not echo loudly through the trees and alert Ogremon to her position. Her terror rose as a silence fell upon the area around her. 

A lightsaber cut through a tree nearby, the cracking of the bark loud as thunder as the tree fell to the ground. 

“No one is here to save you now,” Ogremon continued to taunt. “Nor is anyone coming. You’re all alone out here.” 

Sora sighed sadly. 

‘He’s right. I am alone.’ 

She clutched her lightsaber tightly, ready to make a run for it before Ogremon could reach her. Hopefully she could get through the forest without him detecting her, and then she would find her own way back home. It was better than staying in the Digital World. 

But before her brain could send the message to her feet to start running, the overpowering foulness of Ogremon’s smell reached her nose. He was right on her. 

“There you are,” he chuckled darkly. Sora did not need to look behind her to know that he was preparing to chop down the tree with his twin lightsabers. 

“Hey, ogre breath!” 

The ogre turned to look behind him, which gave Sora enough courage to look from around the tree. Tai and Matt stood where the trees gave way to the clearing she and Ogremon just came from. Even if it appeared to be just the two of them, Sora sensed that TK was nearby as well. 

“You want us, well here we are!” Tai’s eyes narrowed as he held his lightsaber like a baseball bat, the bright blue blade humming just mere inches from his head.

“And leave our friend alone,” Matt echoed, bringing his lightsaber over his head. 

“Well, well, well,” Ogremon’s smirk grew even wider. “Two more to the party, not that I’m complaining; the more, the merrier.” 

“Be careful what you wish for,” Tai retorted as he and Matt leapt into the treetops and worked their way towards Ogremon, leaping from tree to tree like monkeys. 

Ogremon glanced towards either side, unsure of who to prepare for first, when Tai and Matt jumped down at the same time. Their lightsabers clashed in a whirlwind of color as Ogremon deflected each attack that came his way. Matt let Tai handle the attacks while he defended due to having a stronger defense between the two. 

From behind a bush just a few meters away, TK parted the leaves to watch in amazement as the action unfolded before him. How he desperately wanted to get into the action, but his brother’s order rang in his head and so he shrunk back into the bush before he could be seen. 

Tai somersaulted into a quick slash to try and knock Ogremon off balance, but the Digimon seemed to have read his mind because he used the Force to push Tai into a tree nearby, stunning the boy upon impact. 

Taking advantage of the situation, Matt kicked Ogremon in the chest, sending him back only a couple of inches, but it was all he needed as he pressed the attack; powerful strike after powerful strike, almost overpowering the twin lightsaber attack coming from Ogremon. 

“Sora, get out of here!” Matt called as their lightsabers clashed in a lock. “Tai and I will hold him off as long as we can! Just get out of here!” 

Still behind the tree, Sora didn’t know what to do. She could stay behind the tree and eventually get caught, or she could run and save herself at the expense of her friends being injured or killed. 

“I can’t leave you!” she replied. “You guys will be killed!” 

“We’re not important.” 

Matt was then punched in the jaw, staggering him before falling to the ground to collect himself. He looked up to see Ogremon’s evil grin as he raised his lightsaber up to do the deed. 

“Say good night, Destined Jedi,” he cackled as he began to bring it down. 

A Force push, however, caught him off guard. Matt looked up to see that Tai was the one who saved him, but their victory was short-lived as Ogremon unleashed a Force push so powerful that it sent them both to the edge of the forest. There was no one left between him and Sora. 

Unable to watch any longer, Sora stepped out from behind the tree and activated her lightsaber. If this grotesque creature thought he was going to mess with her and her friends, he had another thing coming. 

“Sora!” 

She and Ogremon both turned to see Izzy, Joe, and Mimi all stand near the edge of the forest, along with Gennai. The sight of them filled her heart with even more joy, knowing that they too had come to find her. 

“Come on, we’ve gotta help!” Joe cried as he began to rush into the forest, his hand grabbing his lightsaber, until he was stopped by Gennai’s fist rising up in front of his stomach. He collided with it, knocking the wind out of him for a short time. 

“Stay out of this,” said Gennai. “This is Sora’s battle.” 

Joe doubled over in pain, wheezing as he struggled to get his air under him. Izzy and Mimi wanted to jump in and help, but obeyed Gennai’s order and watched helplessly. 

Ogremon took advantage of their inability to help. 

“Friends or not, you must realize you are DOOOOOOOMED!” he smirked, his voice booming through the entire forest. 

Sora was so focused on her opponent that she failed to notice that the heart symbol on her arm was glowing at long last. Energy flowed through her until it felt like a powder keg about to blow. Knowing her friends cared for her gave her the strength she needed to continue fighting. 

“Oh I don’t think so,” she smirked right back, her eyes now filled with determination, as she finally let all the built-up energy out from the palm of her hand. 

She grunted as the Force push pushed Ogremon back as far as he had pushed Matt and Tai, towards the edge of the forest. She looked at her arm in amazement. She had finally gotten her symbol to glow, and it was all because Matt and Tai let her know that they cared about her. Maybe she did have people that loved her after all. 

“Alright, now the big guns are coming out,” she said hoarsely as she ran towards Ogremon. 

Ogremon was too busy trying to gather himself that he was not prepared to defend Sora’s attacks. Every strike from her knocked him off balance, and she did not stop at any point to let him get settled.

One strike knocked both lightsabers out of his hands and Sora Force pushed him again. 

“Rrgh! Screw this! I’m out of here!” the ogre growled as he stomped away. “You may have gotten past me, but you will not stop Lord Devimon!” 

Sora watched him leave, knowing that he was right about one thing: this was only the beginning of something that they had yet to face. It sent a chill down her spine as she attended to Matt and Tai to make sure they were all right. 

“Are you guys ok?” 

Tai nodded. “Yeah, we’re fine. Old Ogre Breath is going to have to do something far worse to take us out,” he chuckled. 

“Can I come out now?” TK made his presence known to the three of them, his face barely peaking out from the shrubs. 

“Yeah, the coast is clear,” Matt replied, nodding his head to assure TK that it was all right. 

The young boy almost tripped over a root as he stepped out of the foliage. His clothes were rustled from being poked by shrubbery. 

“It was really starting to become uncomfortable in there,” he said, wiping an itch on his nose with the sleeve of his shirt. His attention then turned to Sora. 

“Sora, I know you feel like you don’t have anyone that loves you, but I like you,” he said, giving her a lopsided grin. “When I’m with you, I don’t miss my mom as much.” 

A spark of warmth flowed through Sora, visibly moved by the young boy’s praise. He thought so highly of her that she became a mother figure to him? She didn’t feel worthy of such praise, but she smiled and ruffled his head anyway. 

“Thanks, little guy,” she said. 

“I guess you are capable of love after all, eh?” Tai chuckled. 

Sora nodded and smiled with a chuckle. “I guess so.” 

“Family doesn’t end in blood, Sora.” Izzy chimed in. 

“Hey, you lot!” Gennai’s voice then came, followed by footsteps. The rest of the kids accompanied the old man as they reached the others, thankful to see that they were unhurt. 

“Are you all ok?” he asked, to which they nodded. 

“Quickly! It won’t be long now before Devimon knows that we’re here. Let’s go back to the house, for tomorrow…your final test begins. Prepare yourselves.” 

“F-final test?” Joe asked nervously, not liking the sound of his voice one bit. 

“You will find out soon enough, Joe. No time to explain.” 

Not only was Joe apprehensive about what lured, but the others as well. After two weeks, they were about to be full-fledged Jedi, which should have been exciting to them. Instead, they worried about what their last test would bring.


	14. The Final Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids now face the final test of their training.

The kids stood nervously at the edge of a thick, dark, forest. The canopies were so thick that no sunlight could get through, making it seem darker than it already was, even though it was the middle of the day. Long, towering birch trees stretched all the way up to the heavens. Gazing deep into the forest, the howling of the wind and the caws of crows filled the air. Looking deeper, they could see mist floating over the forest floor and the birch trees slowly give way to giant oak trees with thick roots that strung along the path. 

Joe was trying hard not to wet himself from the fear he felt, instead he was shaking like a leaf. Everyone else gulped nervously as the darkness of the forest sent unsettling chills down their spines. The dark side of the Force was strong in the forest. 

“Gennai…why are we here?” Tai asked, desperately trying to be as brave as he could, even though he was just as scared as the others. 

The old man smiled with a slight chuckle in his voice as he spoke. 

“You are all about to face your final test,” he said. “This will be the most difficult thing any of you have ever faced in your lives. The main task I am assigning you is to go into the forest and find a beast that is strong in the Force. They will be drawn to the crystals of your lightsabers, and once you find them, rid them of their dark thoughts.” 

“How do we do that?” asked Matt. 

“As soon as the beast comes in contact with you, reach out and touch them, for they will do the same. Once you make contact, this will rid them of their dark thoughts and allow them to speak with you.” 

Tai snorted an exhale from his nose. 

“Seems easy enough,” he shrugged. 

“Oh I wouldn’t be too sure about that, Tai,” Gennai snickered. “The challenge to this is something that you will have to overcome; not fearsome creatures, not any external forces, but within yourselves. You see, the forest is able to sense your worst fears and worst experiences. It will do everything it can to make sure you do not reach the beasts, so stay on your toes and do not give in to fear.” 

The kids stood silently as they took this all in. Having to not only walk into the deepest, darkest forest in the entire Digital World to find a beast strong with the Force, but also to face their worst experiences was almost too much to ask of them. Then again, a lot of the things they had done in their nearly month-long stay in the Digital World would not be considered easy in the real world. 

Gennai then pointed to seven paths into the forest, each leading to a separate part and never crossing. 

“Now choose a path,” he said. “But be very weary; you could just lose yourselves along the way.” 

That warning echoed in the children’s heads as they continued to stare at the unwelcoming façade of the forest. Two crows flew into the branches of a tree in front of them and cawed loudly at them. Mimi and Joe jumped almost two feet in the air in fright while everyone else was merely startled. 

“I am not going in there!” Joe cried, his knees buckling in fear. “It’s too dark and scary!” 

“And we have no idea what we’ll find in there,” Mimi echoed, sounding like she was about to burst into tears at any moment. 

Tai growled in frustration, trying to mask his own fear by putting on a brave face. 

“Guys, we have to do this,” he said. “There’s no other way. I know it seems scary, but you can’t let your fear control you. Everything is going to be ok.” 

He then moved towards the path in front of him. Turning around to look at everyone one last time, he said, “Good luck,” before wandering into the mist-covered path and disappearing from sight. 

Sora then stepped forward, swallowing a lump in her throat as the darkness ahead beckoned to her like a siren call. She clutched her lightsaber to try and provide her some reassurance. 

“Well, here I go,” she said as she walked into the forest. 

Matt and TK issued each other a goodbye with Matt assuring his younger brother that they would be reunited soon, reminding him to be brave, before they disappeared into the mist. Izzy then followed. Joe and Mimi stood frozen in indecision for a few more moments before gathering enough courage to walk into the mist that awaited them. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Whispers circulated the air, sending shivers down Tai’s spine. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they were there and that was enough to unsettle him. He treaded lightly as his feet moved across the mossy ground beneath him. To try and keep himself calm, he focused on each step. 

Right. Left. Right. Left,’ he kept chanting in his head. 

As he moved further down the path, the whispers moving through the trees grew louder until he could finally make out what they were saying. 

“There is nothing for you here,” they said as the wind picked up, covering the entire path in eternal darkness. “Turn back now.” 

Thorns then popped out of the ground in front of Tai, which caused him to fall back on his butt in surprise. He rubbed his backside as the pain shot through his tailbone. The roots of the thorns stretched up four inches off the ground, waiting to trip an unsuspecting fool that was stupid enough to wander in without backup. 

Activating his blue lightsaber, Tai slashed the roots out of his way so that the path was unblocked for him to continue walking. The humming of his lightsaber was the only thing that filled the forest air once the whispers dissipated. 

After walking another few steps, fog began to cover the forest floor. It was so thick that Tai could not see his feet, nor anything else up ahead other than the bases of trees. He hesitantly took a few more steps, curious as to what lay ahead, when suddenly the forest itself moved as the ground shook with a ferocity that rivaled an earthquake. The shaking was so powerful that it sent Tai to the ground. 

As if things couldn’t get any worse, a booming voice echoed through the trees, sounding like something from the depths of Hell. 

“The dark side reigns over this part,” it roared. “Leave now, or prepare to face that which you are most ashamed of.” 

Tai cocked an eyebrow before answering, “Most ashamed of? What do you mean?” 

“In order to find what you most desire, you must face the one thing you are most ashamed of. Take the risk, and you shall be rewarded; fail to do so, and you will not become a true Destined Jedi. What say you?” 

Tai weighed his options. He had a task to complete, so he may as well step forward to confront that which was his greatest shame. Gennai’s words echoed through his mind. 

‘The forest is able to sense your worst fears and worst experiences. It will do everything it can to make sure you do not reach the beasts, so stay on your toes and do not give in to fear.’ 

‘So that’s what Gennai meant when he said that the forest will do whatever it can to test me,’ he realized. ‘I haven’t come this far only to stop now.’ 

“I will press forward,” Tai answered the mysterious voice. “Using the big voice is not going to scare me.” 

Ahead of him, a group of thorns that were intertwined to create a barricade parted, giving Tai a glimpse into even more darkness that stretched as far as the eye could see. A chill went down his spine because of all the dark side energy he could sense. 

“Proceed,” the voice bellowed. 

He nodded with an exhale through his nose and continued walking without a moment to lose. 

More mist swirled around him as the entire forest began to be blanketed in it, obscuring everything. Tai couldn’t even see any of the trees beside him, which concerned him greatly. To be safe, he kept his lightsaber gripped tightly in his hands as it hummed. 

The mist then parted to reveal a familiar setting: his family’s apartment. On the couch was a little girl with a cat laying on her lap and a cup of orange juice on the table beside her. She was very pale, a sign of a fever, and was watching cartoons on the television. Tai’s eyes widened when he realized that it was Kari when she was very little, no older than four or five, and curled up on her lap was their family cat Miko. 

Suddenly, the door opened and a voice called out, “Hey, I’m home!” 

The little girl turned to see a younger Tai, age: eight, taking his shoes off in the foyer before stepping onto the hardwood floors. 

“Hi,” she meekly smiled. 

“Hey,” he answered. “Feeling better?” 

Kari nodded. “Yes.” 

Looking at her, she did seem to be okay to Tai. A grin began to cross his young face as an idea came to his mind. 

“Wanna go outside and play with me?” he asked. “I don’t want to leave you here alone.” 

She nodded again. “Ok.” 

Watching from afar, Tai’s face was one of horror as he realized what was about to happen. Everything started to come back to him as he watched the events unfold. This was one moment that had stayed with him for three years, and possibly will for the rest of his life. 

“No! Don’t go out there!” he cried, reaching his hand out to try and stop them, but it was in vain. 

The scene then changed in a blur. Sirens blared all around as Kari was carried away in a stretcher onto an ambulance. Little Tai watched helplessly, not moving from the spot he saw Kari collapse. He was in a complete catatonic state. 

They were at the hospital now and Mrs. Kamiya charged towards him, panting as though she had run a marathon. 

“TAI!” she roared as she tried to catch her breath. “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE DONE?!” 

Tai turned away from the scene as a slapping sound resonated through the entire mist. Tears spilled from his eyes as his hand subconsciously placed itself on his cheek, remembering the burn of the mark she gave him. 

“WHAT COULD YOU HAVE BEEN THINKING?! YOU KNEW SHE WAS SICK!” 

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, even though she couldn’t hear him, weeping as he kept his eyes closed, tears in complete free fall. 

All that Tai could hear next were her sobs as the mist swirled even faster than before. He didn’t need to look to know how the rest played out. Kari had ended up with pneumonia, and almost didn’t make it. Thankfully she did, but what came next really stuck the knife in his heart. 

“Tai,” Kari squeaked out in a weak voice from their father’s arms. “I’m sorry I can’t kick the ball very good. You’ll probably never want to play with me again.” 

He couldn’t take it anymore. Tai sobbed loudly as he dropped to his knees. His pained cries echoed throughout the forest as the emotional scars on his psyche were ripped open. His lightsaber fell from his hand and landed on the ground with a metallic thud. He had been reduced to nothing but a crying mess. 

“It wasn’t all your fault, you know,” the mysterious voice returned as the mist around Tai dissipated. “You didn’t know that would happen.” 

“But I should have known better!” Tai shouted in distress. “Kari could have died, and I would have to live with that for the rest of my life. I almost killed my own sister!” 

“So is that why you are afraid to lead everyone, because you’re afraid that someone will die on your watch and you’ll have to live with it?” 

Tai sniffled as he started to get himself back under control after the floodgates had opened. He wiped his nose, which was dripping in mucus, and then his eyes with the back of his gloved hand. 

“I guess so,” he answered slowly. “I just want to make sure everyone is safe, and I’m afraid that something will happen. With Devimon, if it weren’t for Leomon, poor TK would have been killed, and Matt would have lost his brother.” 

“But that didn’t happen,” the voice replied. “You’ve led them this far, and Kari never hated you for what happened. Why should you hate yourself when she doesn’t hate you?” 

Tai sniffled before replying, “Because I’m her big brother! It’s my job to watch over her, protect her, and make sure nothing happens to her.” 

“Remember that without the fear of losing those close to you, there cannot be the courage to do the right thing, Jedi of Courage. You have done well.”

The voice then disappeared. Once it did, growling sounds replaced it as Tai turned around to see a dark figure outlined completely in black, with grey pupils in its eyes, looking right at him. It was in the shape of a dinosaur, a small Tyrannosaurus Rex, and it slowly approached him. 

Tai was afraid that it had come to make him its lunch, so he picked up his lightsaber and activated it quickly, which caused the creature to halt its advance. It let out an interested vocalization as it looked at the bright blue blade. 

Something inside of Tai told him that this was the creature he was meant to find. The way it looked at his lightsaber, and the amount of Force energy he felt swelling within it, clued him in to everything he needed to know. 

The creature began its advance once again, slowly this time, as it reached out towards Tai. Feeling the pull towards it, Tai stretched out his other hand towards the creature as well. 

His hand then joined the claws of its appendage, and when that happened, a bright orange light erupted from the symbol on his arm. The sheer brightness of it forced Tai to shield his eyes. Once the light dulled, he saw a bright yellow-orange dinosaur with green eyes looking back at him. 

“Hello, Tai,” it said in a mystical, high-pitched voice. Its top teeth poked out from its lip, giving him a pleasant smile. “It is so nice to finally meet you after all this time.” 

Tai looked at the dinosaur with a look of awe, something in his brain told him that he knew its name. 

“Your name wouldn’t happen to be Agumon, now would it?” he asked. 

The dinosaur nodded. “That’s right. My name is Agumon, and I am your Digimon guide.” 

“Digimon guide?” Tai replied, a confused look sweeping across his face. “What exactly does that mean?” 

“It means that it is my job to help you in times of trouble and whenever you need help making decisions. Whatever you need me for, I will always be there to help you.” 

“Hmph,” Tai exhaled, trying to take in all this information at once. “What kinds of situations?” 

“Ones such as when you and your other friends first came to the Digital World,” replied Agumon. “I was the one that helped you find that hiding tree when you and Izzy hid from Kuwagamon.” 

Tai’s eyes widened in realization. “It was you who told me where to hide. And here I thought I was hearing things when that happened.” 

Agumon nodded. “That’s right. You have no idea how long I have waited to meet you, Tai. I was almost afraid you would never come, but sure enough, here you are. You have passed your test. Go on now…Destined Jedi of Courage.” 

He then disappeared, leaving Tai with a renewed sense of hope. Looking down at the sun symbol on his arm, he could feel Agumon’s Force energy surging through him, assuring him that no matter what happened, he would have someone there alongside him to make sure he was the leader he knew he could be. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Matt ran down the dark path as fast as his legs could carry him, having the nagging suspicion that something was following him. He didn’t want to know what it was so he just ran. To provide some light for himself, he had activated his green lightsaber. Even with that, it only illuminated up to three feet in front of him, which wasn’t much. 

The eerie sounds of the forest continued on around him: the cawing of crows, the sound of twigs snapping under his every step, and leaves rustling from the wind blowing through them. Matt liked to think that he was past being scared of the dark, but this unsettled him more than just simply being stuck in a dark room. 

He kept his lightsaber clutched tightly in his hand so if something ever jumped out, he was ready to defend himself. His fast stride turned into a slow walk once he was sure that he had put some distance between himself and whatever that may have been following him. 

‘I sure hope TK’s doing okay without me,’ he thought to himself as the darkness seemed to be closing in around him. The little boy was probably helpless and terrified without him there beside him. 

‘Then again, we have been living apart for the last four years since our folks got divorced,’ he remembered. ‘So I guess he’ll be all right for a little while.’ 

A strong gust of wind blew across his face, tossing his hair in all directions. Matt raised his non-saber wielding arm to shield himself from it when a loud, piercing scream filled the air. 

‘Mimi!’ he realized before breaking out into a run once again. He charged through the brush and leapt over tree roots to try and find the path that connected to Mimi’s. 

After taking a left turn, he found himself in the middle of a field of elephant grass that stretched as high as the trees themselves. The raptor scene from The Lost World: Jurassic Park played in his mind as he debated whether or not he should go into it because he didn’t know what could be in there. There very well could be raptors waiting for him, he thought with an incredulous chuckle. In which case, he was more than prepared to handle whatever came his way as long as he had his lightsaber with him. 

Without another thought, he ran into the elephant grass, slashing it down with his lightsaber like a machete to clear all sides of it so he could see. He finally emerged into a clearing after a few paces. 

“Mimi?” he called, scanning the darkness for any signs of her pink hat, but found none. 

“Where are you?” he called again, looking even harder this time. 

Still, he found nothing. 

“Just great, Matt,” he muttered to himself. “You’re hearing things now. This forest is giving me the creeps.” 

As he resumed walking through the grass, he noticed a mist starting to gather around him. Matt kept himself on high alert as it blotted out the field of grass around him, keeping his lightsaber hung over his head in the Djem So stance.

His heart pounded with anticipation and fear as he awaited what he knew was about to come out of the mist, for he could sense it with every ounce of Force energy in his body. His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he waited. 

“I can’t do this anymore!” a loud male voice yelled at the top of their lungs. “I just think that we’re better off apart, Nancy!” 

“Fine! If that’s the way you feel about it, then I won’t stop you!” another voice cried, this one female. “Get out!” 

Matt stepped forward to see what was the cause of the yelling. His jaw dropped once he did. 

The mist gave way to a scene he knew all too well: his family’s apartment in Hikarigaoka in Nerima, in the northwestern part of Tokyo. His mother and father were having another one of their daily arguments that became all too commonplace when he and TK were really young. 

Sure enough, he saw two young blonde haired boys hiding behind a doorway. The older one had tears in his eyes as their parents continued to argue while the younger one didn’t seem to understand what was going on. A pang of sympathy shot through his heart as he watched them. They didn’t deserve to witness something like this. 

As Matt continued to watch, he saw a scene of the day the divorce was final and they all went their separate ways: Matt going with his father, and TK leaving hand-in-hand with their mother, not understanding anything major other than he was going to live with her from now on. The seven-year-old blonde watched helplessly as his mother and little brother disappeared from sight as he and his father got into the car and drove away. 

Matt’s heart wrenched as his younger self started to cry in the back seat of the car, sparking tears of his own as the feelings he tried so hard to keep bottled up finally let loose. Not wanting anyone around to see him bawl like a little kid, he sniffled and tried to wipe away his tears. 

“Why am I reliving this?” he demanded silently as the tears continued to pour down his cheeks. “Is there something I need to know?” 

Growling came from the tall grass, along with the sounds of rustling. Matt tucked his lightsaber close to him to try and keep whatever was coming at a distance from him. His eyes darted across the field, looking for the source of the growling. 

The sounds grew nearer as a patch of grass next to him started to shake, causing him to jump back in surprise. He pointed his lightsaber towards the grass, sweat dripping down his forehead as he waited. 

A dark figure outlined entirely in black emerged from the grass. It was a small dog-like creature with a horn on top of its head, a tail emerged from its pelt. Its pupils were a bright grey, and they were fixed entirely on Matt. 

For some reason, Matt did not feel frightened by its presence. By all accounts, he should have been scared, but he wasn’t. Instead, he felt a connection with the beast. It had stopped growling and started gazing at his lightsaber. Matt noticed, and started moving it around just to see what would happen. The creature’s eyes followed the saber everywhere he moved it, which reassured him that it didn’t want to make him his lunch. 

Matt’s symbol began to flicker with light as it hovered over the creature, which gave him an idea. He deactivated his lightsaber to reach out and touch its paw, causing it to reach out towards him as well. Once Matt’s fingers melded with its claws, his symbol glowed with a blinding light that nearly blinded him for several seconds until it finally subsided. 

A yellow wolf-like creature with a blue pelt stood before Matt. It had a symbol on its stomach that was nearly identical to the one on his arm, and red eyes that displayed a warm kindness towards Matt. 

The creature smiled. “Hello, Matt,” it greeted. “You finally came. My name is Gabumon, and I am your Digimon guide.” 

Matt was taken aback. It had just spoken to him. 

“Digimon what?” he asked, his face white with surprise. 

“Digimon guide,” Gabumon repeated, the smile never leaving his face. “Whenever times of trouble arise, I am there to help you through them. Now what is it that troubles you, Jedi of Friendship?” 

Matt took a deep breath before replying, “All my life I’ve kept to myself. I never had a lot of friends when I was growing up so I never had someone to help me through my parents’ divorce. Now I have friends, but I don’t know how to deal with it.” 

Gabumon gave a sympathetic look before wrapping his arms around Matt’s neck in a comforting hug. Once the warmth spread over him, Matt finally allowed himself to break down in tears, sobbing into Gabumon’s fur. 

“You don’t have to be lonely anymore, Matt,” he said as the boy continued to cry. “For one thing, you have me as your friend. I can feel the love that you have for the others in your group, as well as your brother. Don’t be afraid to show them how much you care about them. Before you came along, I didn’t have many friends myself either; I waited hoping that some day you would come, and you did.” 

A small smile broadened on Matt’s tear-stricken face. So this was what it was like to have a friend. Gabumon was a good listener, he thought, that it was easy to talk to him. 

“But why me?” he asked. “What did you see in me that made you think I was capable of these things?” 

The Digimon smiled. 

“Because of your heart, Matt,” he replied. “I can sense what is in your heart, and that gives me all the reason I need to know you are the right person for the job. Have confidence in yourself, Matt. If you do, then others will like you for who you are.” 

Gabumon then disappeared, leaving Matt alone in the middle of the field. A warm feeling began to spread through him for even though Gabumon wasn’t physically next to him, he still could feel his presence. He looked down at the symbol on his arm, still glowing with Force energy. 

“Friendship,” he muttered before giving a nod. “Ok.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sora jumped as the call of a crow erupted from the darkness of the forest. She turned her head slightly to the left to see the bird staring right back at her. It turned its head curiously, wondering what this strange human was doing in the forest. 

Sora couldn’t think of anything else to do other than speak to it. 

“Hi,” she said hesitantly, not expecting it to reply back. “I’m looking for a beast that is strong with the Force. Would you mind helping me look for one?” 

The crow flew away from the branch it was perched on with a cry, flying deeper into the forest. For some strange reason, Sora felt as though it wanted her to follow, which she did after a few moments of hesitation. 

She ran blindly down the path as she kept an eye on the bird, not sure where it was leading her but hoping it was to the creature she was looking for. The air then grew quiet, the crow’s cry fading further and further away until Sora could hear it no more. 

She sharply turned in all directions to try and locate it, but she could not find the black bird flying nearby. 

Fear flowed within Sora as she realized that she didn’t know where she was. Not paying attention to where she was going, she had been counting on the crow to lead her in the right direction. 

“Well thanks a lot!” she shouted into the forest, angry that the crow had ditched her. 

She spun in a circle to try and determine which way she should continue on, but every option seemed as good as the others. Why did she have to follow the crow and lose her way? She should have known it was dangerous to stray away from the path when walking in a forest. 

A loud, piercing cry from above made her leap almost two feet in the air, a scream from another world. Sora immediately took off and ran, not wanting to see what the source of the cry was. Pushing past leaves, stray branches, and briar patches, she ran as if her life depended on it. Her arms were scratched up with several bleeding cuts, but she pressed forward undaunted. 

Coming up to a fork, she ran down the path to the right, thinking that she could lose the mysterious creature that way. Her body ached in protest as she continued running; her calves burned, and she felt a stitch starting to poke into her side. She slowed down, breathing heavily before placing her hands on her knees to try and catch her breath. 

‘I think I lost it,’ she thought as her heart stabilized from its pounding state. ‘Phew, that was scary.’ 

Sora wasn’t in the clear yet as a mist began to gather around her. For a second, she feared that something bigger was about to emerge. Her lightsaber activated with an ignition that pierced the deafening silence of the forest, providing her with all the protection she would need. 

“Why can’t you understand me?!” a familiar cry rang out. 

She turned, searching for the source of the voice in the mist. When she turned, a most peculiar sight greeted her: she was inside of her family’s apartment. Seated on cushions was a brown-haired woman in a kimono tending to a pot of flowers and across from her, a young Sora in her soccer uniform. 

“Honestly, Sora,” her mother drawled. “You are just like your father: headstrong and don’t know when to quit.” 

“Well, good!” the auburn-haired girl cried. “I’d much rather be like him than you! Don’t you even care about him? Why do you never call him when he’s away?” 

“Sora-“

“GO TO HELL!” 

The girl then stormed out of the apartment in tears, slamming the door behind her as she did so. Mrs. Takenouchi rubbed her forehead and took a deep breath as she stood up to go after her daughter. 

After stepping outside, Sora had already reached the bottom floor. Mrs. Takenouchi remained on the terrace and watched as Sora ran away from the apartment building. With a sad sigh, she turned to come back inside.

“What am I going to do with her?” she muttered. 

Sora watched on as the burdened woman sat down on the sofa with her eyes peered down at the floor. What she saw next shook her beyond words: her mother started crying. The sobs were silent, but Sora could see her body heaving as the emotions of what had just transpired worked themselves out of her. 

“Oh, Mom,” she said with a forlorn look, wanting to reach out and comfort her in any way she could, but her body stopped her from doing that. Never in her eleven years of life did she ever see her mother cry; she always seemed to be this cold, unemotional robot that wouldn’t show much emotion in front of others. 

With a cloud of mist swirling before her eyes, the scene changed to where her mother was now out on the balcony with the phone raised to her ear. A cigarette hung between the fingers of her left hand as she looked out onto the skyline of Odaiba, waiting for the head of auburn hair to grace her sight. 

“She hates me,” she said weakly into the phone, taking a drag from the cigarette. 

“No,” the voice on the other line, which Sora could clearly discern to be her father, replied back. 

With a sniffle, Mrs. Takenouchi repeated the phrase. “She does. She hates me.” 

“No, honey,” Mr. Takenouchi assured her. “Nothing she said meant anything. She’s just a little girl.” 

“She’s old enough. I just don’t know what to do with her, Haruhiko. I’ve tried everything, but she just keeps pulling away from me. I’m at my wit’s end.” 

Watching this exchange finally brought Sora to tears as the mist began to dissipate around her, bringing her back to the forest path. She silently cried as the guilt began to eat at her heart. She and her mother had their problems, but she wouldn’t go so far as to say she hated her. The fact her mother believed she did was enough to send Sora into an emotional tailspin. 

Something fluttered down from the trees onto a log beside Sora, but she didn’t notice due to the tears blinding her vision. A soft coo, like that of a pigeon, alerted Sora to its presence. 

She let out a startled scream as she looked at the avian figure on the log. It was outlined completely in black and was preoccupied with preening its feathers to care about what the human girl was doing. 

Sora wiped her eyes free of tears and observed as the bird gazed up from its feathers to look at her. Cocking its head, it stared for a good few seconds before stretching out a wing towards her. Her symbol started to glow a faint red as she hesitantly raised her right arm. The light got brighter as her hand inched closer to the bird’s wing, feeling a deep connection with it that couldn’t be explained. 

Once her hand made contact, the light gave a blinding glow that brought light to the dark forest. Sora turned away to shield her eyes from the light until it finally began to dull. 

“Sora,” a soft, warm feminine voice said to her. 

The girl finally opened her eyes to see that the black feathers had given way to pink ones with blue around the edges of its face and tail to compliment its blue eyes. The pink ended at its legs, which had a metal ring around the left one. 

The bird smiled. 

“Oh, Sora,” it said, dashing towards the girl to wrap her in a hug. Sora had not prepared for the gesture of affection so she didn’t react as the bird hugged her. 

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited for you,” it continued happily, squeezing the girl’s neck so hard that it hurt. “I’m so glad to finally meet you, Sora.” 

“That’s…uh…nice,” Sora replied awkwardly, finally gathering her words. “But can you please let go of me?” 

The bird unwrapped its wings from around her to settle back on the log. 

“I’m sorry for being overly affectionate, but I’m just so glad to see you.” 

“Someone glad to see me,” she muttered with a roll of her eyes. “There’s a first.” 

“Don’t sell yourself so short, Sora,” the bird replied. “I knew there was a reason you were chosen to be the Jedi of Love, and I was chosen to be your guardian.” 

Sora cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “My guardian?” 

“Yes, my name is Biyomon, and I am known as the Digimon of Love. It is my sworn duty to protect and guide the Jedi who has been chosen to embody love, and that human is you, Sora.” 

Sora gazed at the symbol on her arm sadly, remembering the vision that the mist had just shown her. After witnessing that, she once again felt as though she wasn’t capable of personifying love. If her mother thought she hated her, then Sora didn’t see how she could ever earn any love from her mother back. 

“I think you’ve made a mistake,” she finally said after a few seconds. “I’m the worst person to choose to personify love. My own mother thinks I hate her, and my father is never around enough for me to know that he loves me.” 

“But your friends love you, Sora. Doesn’t that mean anything?” 

“Being accepted and loved by your friends and your family are completely different things,” Sora replied, sitting down on the log beside Biyomon. The tears began to return to her face. “Especially when it comes to my family. My mother wants me to follow in her footsteps, but I just want to be me. I’m afraid that she won’t accept me for who I am if I do though.” 

Biyomon placed a wing on Sora’s shoulder to try and comfort her. 

“That’s all you can do, Sora,” she said. “Just be your kind and gentle self and others will accept you for who you are. If they don’t like it, then too bad. They just lost the chance to have a friend like you.” 

Tears began to leak down Sora’s face at the Digimon’s heartwarming words. Finally a happy smile stretched across her lips as she wiped them away before hugging the Digimon. 

“Thanks, Biyo,” she said. 

“Anytime, Sora. That’s why I’m here.” 

The pink bird then disappeared from within Sora’s embrace, which surprised the girl for an instant. A reassuring warmth fell over her like water from a shower, feeling it to be Biyomon’s presence even though she wasn’t physically there in front of her. 

Sora looked down at the heart-shaped symbol on her arm one last time before getting up from the log and continuing her walk down the path.


	15. The Dark Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of the forest. Izzy, Mimi, Joe, and TK all face their demons.

Izzy stepped lightly as it got darker along the path with each step that he took. If his intuition was correct, it only got darker as he moved closer to the center of the forest so as long as he followed the darkness, he would find the creature in no time flat. 

‘Ok, so the creature I am trying to find is named Tentomon,’ the young computer genius reminded himself. ‘Shouldn’t be too hard to remember. All I have to do is remain calm. Like Gennai said, the forest will do everything it can to impede me from finding Tentomon, so I need to keep a level head.’ 

As he continued along, Izzy took notice of some of the flora in the forest, naming every tree and shrub that he came across. It helped take his mind off of the fact it was getting even darker. He wasn’t afraid of the dark by any means, but getting so dark that he couldn’t see anything in front of him was not something he enjoyed. 

The bright green light of his saber emerged as he activated it, giving him plenty of light to see around him. With this extra security, Izzy continued along the path without a moment to lose. The sooner he could find Tentomon, the sooner he could get out of this forest, which he had to admit was starting to creep him out. 

“Izzy,” a hushed voice, barely above a whisper, called out to him from within the darkness. 

A shiver went down the boy’s spine as the voice reached his ears. His eyes immediately darted from side to side, desperate to find the source of it, but saw nothing; only the pitch-black darkness and oak trees. 

“Great, now you’re hearing things, Izzy,” the boy chastised himself, embarrassed that he had allowed himself to be scared. 

The wind then howled eerily as the voice once again called out his name. His teeth began to chatter, along with his knees shaking. It took every ounce of energy Izzy had to not run for his life like a maniac, so he continued on slowly. 

“Tentomon!” he called, hoping to alert the bug Digimon to his presence. “Tentomon, where are you?” 

“Who are you?” the voice whispered on the wind. 

“It’s me, Izzy!” 

“Who are you?” it repeated again as a mist began to gather around the area. 

The voice continued to repeat the phrase as if in a hypnotic trance while Izzy backed up with his lightsaber held out in a Niman stance. Once his back came in contact with the bark, he jumped. He saw that it was only the tree, which earned a laugh from the boy. 

“There I go scaring myself,” he chuckled, wiping his brow. “Nothing to worry about.” 

The voice had stopped, but the mist had gathered so much that it blocked everything around Izzy. He couldn’t see the foliage in front of him, nor any of the trees in the distance; all he could see was mist. 

A familiar scene began to emerge from the mist as it parted until Izzy didn’t even know it was there. He found himself to be staring at the small opening of his parents’ bedroom door, the light barely creeping out into the dark apartment. 

Izzy then moved forward to see what was going on due to the voices he heard, which clearly were his parents’. 

“Honey, don’t you think its time that we told Izzy the truth?” his mother asked. 

“I’m not sure it’s the best time now, dear,” his father replied. “I’m afraid that it will be too much of a shock to him if we did.” 

“But I have this nagging suspicion that he already knows he was adopted; that he’s not our child. He’s smart and very perceptive, so I wouldn’t put it past him.” 

“What makes you say that? Did he say something to you?” 

“No. I guess it’s just a mother’s intuition.” 

“All he’s ever known is living with us,” Mr. Izumi continued. “We’ve raised him from the time he was three weeks old up until now; he doesn’t know anything else. If we tell him now, it’ll drive him away from us.” 

The emotions of that night came flooding back to Izzy as he watched the two of them go back and forth about whether or not to tell him. That was one of the worst nights’ sleeps he ever had in his life. He stayed up dwelling over each and every word they had said, wondering if his parents saw him as inferior because he was adopted and not their own child. 

Watching with a spellbound expression as they continued talking, Izzy didn’t notice the tears beginning to spill down his face. Finally, with a sniffle, he turned away. He couldn’t bear to listen anymore. 

Sliding down the tree into a seating position, Izzy broke down and cried quietly. After a few seconds, he was able to get ahold of himself and blew his nose on the backside of his yellow glove. He then wiped away any remaining tears that collected on his face. 

‘What do I do?’ he asked himself as he continued to choke up. ‘I don’t even know who I am anymore. If I’m not my parents’ real child, then who am I?’ 

Once he calmed down, he began to feel as though he wasn’t alone. A buzzing sound emerged from within the darkness. Turning his head left and right, he saw nothing. When he looked up, that was when he screamed. 

A shadow-like bug flew down from the top of the tree towards him, completely outlined in black. Izzy slashed the air with his lightsaber, barely missing the bug by an inch, to try and keep it away from him. The bug then settled onto the ground in front of him, looking on with curious black eyes. 

Izzy stared right back as he kept his lightsaber stretched out in a warning stance in case it decided to attack. Getting his breath back, he had a feeling that this was the creature he was looking for. 

“T-Tentomon?” he said timidly. 

The bug gave an interested buzzing noise, as if confirming that was its name, before reaching out to Izzy with an appendage. A glow of purple pierced the darkness as it got closer and closer to Izzy. Looking down, he could see that it was his symbol that was glowing. Without hesitation, he reached his right hand out to the appendage that was inching towards him. 

Once they made contact, Izzy’s symbol exploded with light, blinding him for a short moment, before it then dulled to reveal the creature to him. 

Izzy found himself looking at a bipedal ladybug-like insect with big green eyes, the same color as his lightsaber blade, and two long, orange antennae emerging from its head. Its shell was a maroon color, while the underside of its body was a sand color. 

“Pro…digious!” he exclaimed breathlessly, his eyes widening in amazement at what he saw before him. 

“What? Is there something stuck in my teeth?” the bug replied in a high-pitched, nasally voice. Even though it had spoken, its mouth did not move. “This was not how I wanted to make a good first impression.” 

“Are you…Tentomon?” the boy asked once again. 

“Yep, my name is Tentomon, the one and only. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Izzy. It’s been a while since we’ve last spoken.” 

Izzy’s eyes widened in realization, remembering the voice in the factory. 

“In the factory…that was you!” 

“That’s correct. It’s my job as your Digimon guardian to help you in times of trouble, Izzy, and that was a moment where I felt as though you needed my help.”

“Then why didn’t you just reveal yourself to me?” Izzy asked. 

“Gennai ordered us to not reveal our identities to you until you were ready for your last test,” Tentomon replied. “You humans are such an interesting species, though you are the only human I have ever met. What was all the screaming about earlier? It disturbed my nap.” 

Izzy sighed, the vision that he saw beginning to replay in his mind. 

“Nothing important,” he said. “Just the fact that you surprised me.” 

Tentomon was not buying it. 

“Your thoughts betray you, Izzy. I sense the conflict within you over who you are and what your purpose is. Take me for example: I’ve lived my whole life knowing that my purpose was to guide and protect the Jedi of Knowledge, so therefore I am what I am. I can’t change that.” 

“But how do I do that if I’m not even sure who I am?” the boy retorted. “What if my parents just adopted me out of pity, like they never really love me in the first place? I’m afraid to find out the answer.” 

Tentomon shook his head sadly. “I can’t answer that, Izzy,” he said. “But what I can tell you is this: don’t let the fear of the unknown stop you from the pursuit of knowledge. Or was it ‘Don’t tickle a sleeping dragon’? I can’t get those things right.” 

Izzy chortled at the bug’s humor. 

“Thanks, pal,” he smiled. 

“Anytime, Izzy.” 

Tentomon then faded before disappearing entirely, like a ghost. Izzy looked at the spot where the bug had just been standing, his words reverberating in his mind. With this newfound confidence, Izzy bounded down the path that he knew would take him out of the forest, having finally accomplished his task. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mimi had never been so scared in her life. As if being forced to walk into a dark, scary forest wasn’t bad enough, she was so uptight that the sight of anything was enough to scare her out of her wits, forcing her to run a lot and she didn’t know where to go. 

“P-Palmon?” she called, seeing if she could lure the creature she was looking for out into the open with the sound of her voice. “Palmon? Come out, come out, wherever you are.” 

A group of bats flew out of a bush from the loud sound, screeching so loudly that they drowned out Mimi’s cries. Without even thinking, she took off running with a loud scream as if her life depended on it. With her eyes shut tight, she ran aimlessly, not paying any attention to where she was going. 

Suddenly, her foot got snagged on a root and she fell flat on her face. This only made her cry even louder as the forest air filled with her loud sobs. If there were any forest animals in the area, they would have scurried away from the sound. 

Mimi pounded the ground in emotional agony, her fear completely out of control at this juncture. No one was there to console her, but it wouldn’t have mattered if anyway; she was at the end of her rope and she was going to cry as much as she wanted. 

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!” she screamed to the heavens, hoping one of her friends would come and find her. Fearful tears began to stream down her face as the helplessness finally started to settle in. 

Whispers then circulated through the trees as the wind blew gently down the path. It sounded like a herd of ghosts were coming around. 

“Now what’s going on?” Mimi sobbed, wishing someone would just come by and put her out of her misery before these “ghosts” got her. 

Above her, the voices began to ring loudly in her ears. 

“Can you believe her?” 

“She’s such a ditz!” 

“So glad that I’m not friends with her.” 

“I don’t know how anyone can stand her.” 

“Mimi’s so weird.” 

The hurtful words rang in Mimi’s ears as her tears fell even faster, for she knew them too well. For someone who prided herself on being the center of attention and the “life of the party”, Mimi also carried the fact she could be full of herself sometimes. 

Words like ‘narcissist’, ‘ditz’, and ‘selfish’ continued to whisper in her ears, growing increasingly louder with each moment that went by. Mimi covered her ears, trying to block out the words, but it was useless as they continued to shout in her ears as though they were perched on her shoulders. 

Finally, Mimi couldn’t take it anymore and screamed, “STOP!” 

The sound echoed through the entire forest as the voices came to a halt, but the damage had already been done. Mimi pulled herself up from her belly into a seating position, and folded her legs into her chest as she continued to cry. 

While she cried, something began to make its way towards her silently through the underbrush. The branches rustled as they parted to reveal a black plant-like creature, its eyes set directly on Mimi. 

The girl was so busy crying that she didn’t notice the creature stalk over to her. Once her tears finally ran out, she wiped her eyes, red and puffy from all the crying she did, with the back of her hand before looking up. That was when she saw the creature. It was right in front of her, inspecting her curiously but nothing else. 

Mimi tried to scream, but her voice was so hoarse from all the crying and prior screaming she had been doing that a strangled noise came out instead. Rather, she chose to back away quickly, thinking the creature had come to finish her off. 

“S-stay back!” she cried hoarsely, activating her purple lightsaber and pointing it directly at the creature’s chest. 

It kept its distance, feeling the heat of the laser sword pointed against it, but the creature knew that Mimi was simply reacting out of fear. As long as it showed her that it meant no harm, then the girl would inevitably calm down. 

Sure enough, Mimi settled down once she saw that it stopped moving towards her. She deactivated her lightsaber before putting it back on her waist, drawing her attention to the plant-like creature in front of her. 

“H-h-hi,” she hesitantly waved. 

It responded in a warped coo, sounding like a greeting. 

“I’m Mimi. What’s your name?” 

The creature didn’t answer, rather it just lifted an arm and reached out to Mimi. Feeling a connection, Mimi returned the gesture. Her symbol began to glow as her fingers were just mere millimeters away from the long fingers on the creature’s hand. 

Her symbol exploded with light once their fingers made contact, revealing the Digimon to be grass green with a pink flower growing out of its head. Its legs reminded Mimi of roots, and it stared at her with big green eyes. 

“Mimi!” it cried joyously in a child-like voice, wrapping its arms around her in a bone-crushing hug. “Thank you!” 

Mimi tensed as the Digimon buried its face into her stomach, squeezing her even tighter. It was beginning to make her uncomfortable. 

“For what?” she asked. 

“For ridding me of my dark thoughts,” the plant replied happily. “It was getting depressing being all black. Yeugh!” it cringed in disgust. “Anyway, it’s so nice to finally meet you, Mimi. I’m Palmon, your Digimon guardian.” 

“My what?” 

“Your Digimon guardian. Whenever you’re in trouble, I’ll be there faster than you can say ‘mushroom soup’ and help you.” 

“This whole thing makes my head spinny,” Mimi said. “I didn’t even want to go to summer camp in the first place.” 

“Sometimes fate just has other plans,” Palmon replied lightly. “Regardless, you’re here for a reason, Mimi. There are no mistakes.” 

“Well in my case, there was!” the girl shouted, her bottled-up feelings finally rising to the surface. “I’m just a normal girl with a regular life, a regular family, and nothing extraordinary. That’s all I want to be! I want malls! Spas! Room service!” 

Palmon couldn’t help but interrupt her nervous breakdown. “Don’t you think you put too much emphasis on material things?” she asked. 

Mimi cocked an eyebrow. What kind of a question was that? Of course it was important to worry about stuff like that.

“Huh?” 

“Are you sure that it’s not just a front to hide the fact you’re afraid to be yourself?” Palmon asked again. 

“To be honest, I’ve never thought about it before,” Mimi replied, caught off guard by the question. 

“You don’t have to be, Mimi. You’re perfect just being who you are. That’s why you’re the Jedi of Sincerity.” 

“But I don’t want to be some Jedi! I don’t like fighting, but I’m expected to carry this laser thing that I don’t know how to use! WHY ME?!” she shrieked. 

Palmon stood silently for several moments, appearing as if in deep thought, before finally answering Mimi’s plea. 

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I’m just a simple servant, so I can’t answer that. That doesn’t matter to me, Mimi. All I care about is the fact that I have a friend now, and I don’t want any other friend than you.” 

Tears returned to Mimi’s eyes, but this time they were of happiness. Overcome, she wrapped the Digimon in a hug this time, her symbol glowing a bright green that it almost lit the entire area by itself. 

“Thanks, Palmon,” she sniffled, a wide smile broadening on her face. 

“Of course,” Palmon returned the smile. “I have to go now, Mimi. May the Force be with you.” 

She then disappeared, leaving Mimi alone once again in the dark forest. But this time, she wasn’t frightened out of her mind. Rather, she felt a reassuring warmth flow through her, which she knew was both the Force and Palmon’s energy circulating through her. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Damn it, why did this have to happen to me?” Joe grumbled angrily to himself as he stomped through the forest path with frustration oozing every step. “I’m walking through a dark, scary forest with absolutely no clue as to where I am going or what this creature I’m supposed to be looking for looks like.” 

The hooting of an owl froze him, halting his building rage for a moment. The sound echoed through the trees for about three seconds, which felt like an eternity to Joe. He needed to find a way out of here. 

A gurgling sound reached his ears. Relief washed over Joe when he recognized it as the churning of water, which meant that he had to be near a river that could lead him out of the forest. 

‘I’m saved!’ he exclaimed happily to himself. 

The screech of an eagle above scared him out of his wits. Joe was so frightened by the loudness of it that he tripped over his own feet and fell. Rather than simply falling to the ground, Joe found himself tumbling painfully end over end as he fell down a hill. 

He cried out in pain as he made contact with the rough ground beneath him, seeming like it was never going to end. He finally landed at the bottom of the hill face-first in a puddle of mud, releasing a squelching sound into the air. 

A painful groan escaped Joe’s throat as he pushed himself up from the mud puddle. The front of his vest was completely covered in mud, along with his glasses and the front of his pants. Some even stuck to his hair as his face was completely pancaked in it. 

“AND I DON’T EVEN LIKE STAR WARS!” he shouted, echoing through the entire forest, before wincing in pain. “Ow.” 

His entire body felt as though it had been run over by a truck. Joe felt two lumps on his head, along with several scratches and bruises on his arms, legs, torso, and his back for sure was messed up. Nothing was broken, but he was so sore that he could barely move. 

“Hope I never do that again,” he muttered as he wiped mud off of his glasses. 

Joe then saw the small rippling of waves as the water flowed upstream. He was now at the river. Crawling slowly, he reached the riverbank to wash his face clean of mud before dunking his entire head underneath to clean his hair. Sadly, there wasn’t much he could do in the way of cleaning his clothes. 

‘My parents are going to be so mad that I got myself dirty,’ he worried, wondering what they would have to say if they knew about his adventures. 

“JOSEPH ALAN KIDO!” 

Joe cringed, recognizing the voice as his father’s. ‘Speak of the devil.’ 

He turned to see both his mother and father looking at him with less-than-pleased expressions on their faces. Dr. Kido was a big, burly man in his mid-forties with a pair of black-rimmed glasses over his blue eyes and jet-black hair. His face was carved into a discriminant glare, like he was scrutinizing every little thing that you would do. He loved his family, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t exercise his authority as head of the house to have final say over what his sons would do with their lives. 

Mrs. Kido was a lovely woman in her late thirties-early forties with long navy blue hair and big black eyes that counterbalanced her husband’s serious demeanor with one of pure kindness. Joe definitely got more from her in the way of looks, but he was more like his father. 

“Mom, Dad,” he collected himself to greet them. “How did you guys get here?” 

His father held up a slip of paper. B’s and C’s adorned the paper in a straight line down. 

“What is this?” he demanded. 

Joe’s face paled. “I-I don’t know. I’ve never seen that before. What is it?” 

“Do you honestly think grades like these are going to fly for Tokyo University?” his father continued. “Why can’t you be more like your older brothers, Joseph? They were top of their class, and yet you have grades like these. It’s absolutely deplorable!” 

Joe stammered, trying to find a good thing to say, but was coming up empty. 

“I-I-I-I-I’m sorry, Dad,” he stuttered. “I’ll do better next time. I promise.” 

Dr. Kido shook his head. “It’s too late, Joseph. You are an embarrassment to the Kido family.” 

“Your father’s right, honey,” his mother nodded. “This isn’t going to get the job done.” 

Tears began to streak down Joe’s face as his father’s words echoed in his brain. This was the one thing he feared the most: not measuring up to his father’s expectations. All his life, he had been pushed to do exactly what his father wanted him to do, leaving him helpless to speak up for himself. 

“Failure! Loser! Incompetent!” snide voices screamed loudly in his ears. 

“Stop!” he pleaded as they chanted louder, collapsing to his knees with his hands over his ears to block out them out. “Stop it!” 

“You are no son of mine!” his father’s voice joined in. 

“An embarrassment!” said his mother. 

“Stop!” 

Finally, Joe could not take anymore and unleashed a roar from the depths of his soul that could scare the stripes off of a tiger. 

“STOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!” 

Powerful energy erupted from his hands, unlike anything he had produced so far. Everything blew back several feet, as if being blown by the winds of a strong typhoon, even the visions of Joe’s parents flew out of sight as he released all of his pent-up frustrations. 

Finally, the energy ran out and Joe collapsed to his knees, planting his hand in the soft dirt to try and keep him balanced upright as he recovered his strength. Tears continued to streak down his face as he reflected on their words. 

“Maybe I am worthless, and a loser,” he whimpered as small, wet drops dotted the ground beneath him. 

“Hey Joe,” a snide voice called. 

Joe hardly heard the voice as he wiped the tears from his face. The voice once again repeated its call, and this time he heard clearly. 

“Who’s there?” he cried, wondering if it’s yet another trick by the forest to demoralize him. As if it hadn’t done so already. 

“Find me, Joe.” 

Joe jumped, startled by the voice, and immediately ignited his lightsaber so that he could defend himself. 

“Who are you?” 

“You’ll find out in a few moments,” the voice replied impatiently. “Now find me already! I’ve been waiting for you long enough.” 

“Ok, then where are you?” Joe asked again. 

“Follow the sound of my voice.” 

Joe found it useless to argue, so he carefully walked along the riverbank. His shoes squished as they stepped into the mud that lined the edge of the river. Wherever this voice was coming from, Joe didn’t feel like it was going to end well. 

“That’s it. Keep it comin’,” the voice said as it guided him. 

Joe kept walking, craning his head from left to right as he searched for the source of the voice. The endless row of trees finally gave way to a fork, where the river flowed into three different directions. Joe stared deeply, wondering which way he should go. 

A twig snapped in the foliage close to him. Joe was so startled by the noise that he almost peed his shorts again. He was at the end of his rope. 

“WHERE ARE YOU?!” he yelled, his words echoing. 

“Behind you.” 

Sweat ran down Joe’s forehead as he slowly turned to look behind him. He nearly screamed. Something that looked like a three-dimensional shadow of a seal cub with a mohawk on its head, certainly something he had never seen before, was right behind him. 

Joe bit his lip to suppress the scream he knew was about to come out, so hard that it drew blood. The iron taste flooded his mouth as he tried to keep his fear in check. This had to be the creature that he was looking for. 

The seal cocked its head curiously, wondering who this strange human was. Joe finally calmed down enough to where he could think clearly, and his instinct told him that it posed no harm. With this in mind, he reached out to give it a scratch behind the ears, figuring a little affection would get it to warm up to him. 

Once his hand made contact with the creature’s mohawk, the symbol on his arm glowed a bright white, causing him to shut his eyes and look away so that the light didn’t permanently damage his vision, which was impaired enough. 

“I ain’t gonna smell it, if that’s what you want.” 

Joe snapped his eyes open and turned back to look at the creature since he heard the voice coming from there. They widened as his hand hovered over the now-colorful creature. It was white all over with some purple markings on its flippers, face, flanks, and ears; its mohawk was a bright orange, and it stared at Joe with green eyes. A mischievous smile was etched on its face. 

“Well,” it spoke, causing Joe’s eyes to widen. “Aren’t you going to move your hand away?” 

“Uh…yeah,” Joe nodded hesitantly before moving his hand. The fact the creature was actually talking to him freaked him out; animals weren’t supposed to talk in real life. 

“Oh my God, the thing’s talking,” he whispered. 

The creature must have heard him because it huffed indignantly. “First of all, I’m not a thing,” it replied crossly. “The name is Gomamon, and it’s about time you finally found me, Joe. I’ve been waiting for you.” 

Joe had many questions that he wanted answered, like how this creature talk, how it knew he was coming; and why he was chosen to be a Destined Jedi. He started with an obvious one. 

“Waiting for me?” he finally said. “Why?” 

“Why? Because I’m your Digimon guardian, which makes it my job to make sure you don’t get bloodied up too badly.” 

“My guardian?” 

Gomamon groaned with a roll of his eyes. This human asked too many questions. A Numemon could understand something faster than Joe could. 

“Geez, do you have rocks in your head or something?” he bit. “Yes, your guardian. Whenever you’re in trouble, I’m there, Pal Joey.” 

Joe’s nostrils flared at the nickname. “Don’t ever call me that!” he roared. 

“A little touchy I see,” Gomamon noted to himself. “What was Gennai thinking assigning me to this guy?” 

“What was that?” Joe asked. 

“Nothing,” the Digimon replied with a cheeky smile. “I’m just glad that you’re finally here, Joe. Now I’ve fulfilled my lifelong mission: to be your guardian.” 

“Well at least someone has fulfilled their dream,” Joe sarcastically remarked as he sat down beside a fork in the river. “Better than what I have to do.” 

“What do you mean, pal?” 

Gomamon leapt into his lap, which surprised Joe at how quickly he had done it, and turned the cuteness up to eleven by flashing his big green eyes at the boy. 

“My biggest fear is that I won’t be good enough for my family,” Joe sighed. “My dad wants me to be a doctor just like him, and my older brothers are both pre-med students. The problem is that if I don’t live up to that dream, I’m afraid he and my mom won’t love me anymore.” 

Gomamon couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. The poor kid was obviously burdened by all the expectations of those around him that he didn’t feel free to be himself. It was really sad for the Digimon to see. 

“Ah, don’t worry about that stuff, Joe,” he said, trying to put the boy at ease. “You can only live your life. Don’t worry about what others think.” 

“Easy for you to say,” Joe retorted. “You’re not the one living my life.” 

“True, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know a thing or two about living. If your parents didn’t have high expectations for you, then that would mean they didn’t want you to succeed. That’s all they want: you to succeed. And if it’s not being a doctor, then so what. As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.” 

The Digimon’s impassioned speech finally brought a smile to Joe’s face. 

“You know what, Gomamon,” he said. “You’re absolutely right. Thank you.” 

“That’s why I’m here,” Gomamon smiled. “Never forget that, Joe…Jedi of Reliability.” 

He then vanished before Joe’s eyes, freaking the boy out even more due to how sudden it was. As he looked at the symbol on his arm, Gomamon’s words repeating in his mind, a wave of confidence came over him. Standing back up on his feet, he wiped off any mud or dirt he could. 

“All I can do is just be me,” he said to himself. “Just Joe Kido, no one else.” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For someone so young, TK was proud to say that he was doing just fine on his own. Sure, the forest seemed creepy and dark, and he was all by himself without his brother there to protect him, but he wasn’t going to cry his eyes out like a little baby. He was a big boy now, and big boys don’t cry when they’re on their own. 

At least, that’s what he told himself. Truth be told, as he surveyed the scene around him, TK never felt more helpless in his entire life. He was on his own, with no one to help him, and he didn’t know what lay beyond the mist that was slowly closing in around him. 

“Matt?” he called, hearing only an owl hooting in response. 

As the young boy stepped lightly down the path, he saw the foliage continue to get bigger and bigger until it was more like a jungle than a run of the mill forest. The shrubs also grew bigger than him, which unnerved him greatly. He pushed the branches aside as he silently peeked around the corner. 

Nothing was there. 

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. 

“I was getting worked up over nothing,” he sighed, a relieved smile crossing his young face. 

Suddenly, a lightsaber ignition pierced the air around him, which brought a spark of hope to the boy. Maybe it was one of the others coming to find him. 

“Matt?” he called out, hoping that it was his brother. “Is that you?” 

The air filled with a sinister laugh that registered in the deep recesses of TK’s mind. His body froze as a sense of dread overcame him. It was a laugh he never hoped to hear again. 

‘Devimon.’ 

He backed away slowly, not wanting to alert the evil Digimon to his presence. He thought if he could sneak away unnoticed, then he would be safe. He’d find that creature he needed to find, and then he would escape the forest. 

Before he could even attempt to get away, TK tripped over a root and fell stomach-first to the ground with a surprised yelp. Picking himself up, a pair of large feet, easily size sixteen, stood right in front of him. His eyes slowly looked up as a chill went down the young boy’s spine until they finally confirmed what he feared: he was looking at Devimon. 

Just like the last time they saw him, he had that evil sneer that continued to give TK nightmares. His red lightsaber hummed by his side as he looked at the boy, knowing that he could easily end his young life at any moment. 

TK’s hand touched the lightsaber at his side, immediately taking it into his hands. Putting on a brave face, he activated it to show he was not afraid of the Digimon, even though he was absolutely terrified. 

‘How did he find us so quickly?’ he mentally shouted. 

Devimon did not speak. He only stared as TK activated his blue lightsaber. Then, almost at the drop of a hat, he launched the first attack. 

Having been prepared for the inevitable, TK blocked the angled attack with the defense Gennai had taught him before delivering a strike of his own towards the leg. Devimon too blocked his attack as the two danced in a deadly display of saber fighting. 

Finally, TK stunned Devimon with a well-timed parry. Taking advantage of the stun, the boy cut off Devimon’s saber arm with a swift strike from the side and then pushing him away with the Force. The symbol on his arm glowed a bright yellow light as he watched Devimon disappear deep into the forest. 

TK stood in disbelief. He had done it! He defeated Devimon! Just wait until the others heard about this! 

Before he could celebrate his victory, however, the fluttering of wings began to fill the area. For a second, TK worried that Devimon had come back for a second crack at him, but the noise settled behind him. 

TK turned, only to come face-to-face with a figure that looked like a guinea pig with wings for ears. It was completely black, its pupils dark grey. For a second, he didn’t know what to do. He and the creature looked at each other curiously, wondering exactly what he was supposed to do. 

Getting an idea, he tilted his head to one side; the creature copying the movement. 

TK then tilted his head to the other side. 

Same thing. 

He then decided to get sillier, stretching his mouth as wide as he could while making blabbing sounds with his tongue. The creature copied it movement for movement, which caused the boy to giggle. It seemed nice, which was good enough for him. Their game of funny faces continued until TK was almost in stitches from all the faces that it would make. 

“Hi there,” he finally said something. “My name’s TK. What’s yours?” 

The guinea pig didn’t say a thing, only moving closer as its nose sniffed with interest. TK looked down to see the symbol on his arm start to glow for some reason. As the Digimon moved closer, the symbol, in the shape of a shooting star, grew brighter. 

“What are you?” he asked, his hand slowly reaching out to touch it. 

Once his hand finally made contact with its head, the light from his symbol became almost blinding as the dark creature slowly gave way to a burnt orange-ish color on its topside and tan on its underside. It stared at him with big blue eyes that shined with innocence. 

Giggling loudly, TK brought the Digimon into an embrace. He didn’t even need to know what its name was, he could already tell that the two of them would be good friends. 

“I’ve waited a long time to finally meet you, TK,” it said in a childish voice. “And now you’re here.” 

“You know who I am, but I don’t know who you are,” TK replied, hoping to attach a name to the creature in front of him. 

“I’m Patamon,” the now named Patamon smiled at him. 

“Do you want to be friends, Patamon?” the boy asked, giving him a hopeful look. 

The Digimon smiled with a nod. “Ok.” 

TK only squeezed Patamon tighter as his heart fluttered with happiness. For a short period, he just held the Digimon in his arms, afraid that he would disappear if he let go. For the first time in a while, he had a friend that wasn’t his brother or any of the other kids. 

“Now, Patamon, since you’re the Digimon I was looking for, does that make you Yoda?” 

“Who’s Yoda?” 

TK was shocked. Didn’t everyone know who Yoda was? 

“He’s this little old green guy who trains Jedi,” he explained. “You sure you haven’t heard of him?” 

Patamon shook his head. 

“I don’t have much time, TK, so allow me to explain this to you.” 

“Explain what?” TK asked. 

“You may have defeated Devimon here, but he was only an illusion,” Patamon explained. “You and your friends still have to defeat the real one. Once he is defeated, then File Island will finally be rid of his evil. Even so, there are still many dark forces that need to be destroyed in order for the Digital World to be free of all evil.” 

That explanation seemed to take the wind out of TK’s sails because he was starting to feel good about himself. 

“And you, Jedi of Hope, will have a hand in bringing its destruction,” Patamon continued. “Remember that even the smallest person can change the course of events, TK. No matter how much you’re afraid, or how much things seem bleak, always have hope that things will turn out all right.” 

TK nodded in understanding. “Ok, I promise.” 

“Great, I must go now.” 

“Aw!” the boy whined. “Why do you have to go?” 

“Because I fulfilled my mission to find you and meet you,” said Patamon. “But don’t worry, TK. I’ll always be with you and will be there whenever you need me. See you soon.” 

Patamon then disappeared, leaving TK stuck in the middle of the clearing by himself. Taking a deep breath, TK got off the ground and looked around, using the Force to determine where to go next. Patamon’s words continued to ring in his ear as he walked a little taller than normal.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now having completed their training, the Destined Jedi return to File Island for one last encounter with Devimon.

“YOU INCOMPETENT FOOL!” 

Ogremon flew across the room before colliding against a marble column, almost causing it to collapse. He looked at an enraged Devimon in a daze, the whole room spinning before his eyes. 

“Does your incompetence know now bounds?!” Devimon hissed, glaring at the small green Digimon. “I ask you to destroy the Destined Jedi, and what do you do, you allow the Jedi of Love to finally unlock her abilities!”

“I-I’m sorry, Master,” Ogremon apologized. “Those kids were a lot stronger than I thought. I promise that I won’t let you down again.” 

“It’s too late for that,” Devimon growled, grabbing the ogre by the throat with his long arm. Choking sounds filled the air as Ogremon struggled for breath while in the dark Digimon’s grip. 

“Please-“ he choked. 

“Soon, the Destined Jedi will come back to File Island to defeat me. When that happens, I will be no match for them. All because of your failure to destroy them!”

His grip tightened even more. The ogre in his grip was now struggling for air, knowing that he wouldn’t last much longer if it continued this way. 

“I’m…sorry…my…lord,” he choked out. “Please…give…me…one…more…chance.” 

“You had your chance!” Devimon retorted, as his lips curled into a smirk. An idea just came to him. “But I think I know another way you can be of service to me.” 

“How?” 

“If we were to fight together, we could have an advantage.” 

“We, my lord?” Ogremon squeaked as his face began to turn a dark shade of blue. 

“Yes,” Devimon smiled wickedly. “I need you to lend me something, Ogremon. Your energy.” 

Ogremon cried out in pain as Devimon squeezed him tighter, cackling loudly as the ogre was reduced to eight black gears that he quickly usurped. Devimon grew larger, almost to the size of a three-story mansion, as his laugh grew louder. 

“Hear this, Destined Jedi! Soon you will learn the true power of the dark side! And when I destroy you like I should have done the first time, nothing will stand between my master and I from conquering the entire Digital World!” 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gennai checked his imaginary watch as he stood at the edge of the forest, waiting for the children to begin showing up. If all went according to plan, they should be arriving momentarily. For a moment, he was worried that they wouldn’t be strong enough to handle what he knew waited for them in the forest, but his instincts told him that they had passed the test. 

“They should be arriving right…about…now!” he muttered to himself. 

“Gennai!” Tai’s voice came, followed by the goggle-headed boy dashing from the tree line. 

The old man smiled. “Well, welcome back to the realm of the living, Tai,” he said. “You are the first one to emerge from the Forest of Evil.” 

Tai gave a small smile, still reeling from what he had just experienced. 

Not long after him did the other Destined Jedi emerge from the forest one by one. Joe’s entire body was covered in hardened mud with plenty still stuck to his legs, shorts, and vest. There was even still some on his arms, but he was unhurt overall. 

“Congratulations to you all,” said Gennai once everyone had a chance to get reacquainted. “You have all passed your final test. To be a true Jedi, you must be of sound mind, body, and spirit, which this task tested you in. There are things that you have yet to see that will test you even more, and I will not always be there to help you through them, but you have shown your mental fortitude today. I am confident you will be fine.” 

“Ok, so what do we do next?” Tai asked. He felt as though he knew the answer, but wanted to be sure. 

“You must go back to File Island and face Devimon once again.” 

Mimi gasped while everyone else stayed silent. They knew that it was inevitable, but that didn’t mean they were ready for it. 

“Why do we have to face him again?” Joe whined, looking down at the scar across his calf. “Don’t you remember how he kicked our butts last time?” 

“Yes, but you are all much stronger than the last time you faced him,” Gennai replied. “You must go back and defeat him to rid File Island of his evil. Only then will the prophecy be fulfilled.” 

Izzy then spoke up. “So if what I’m understanding is correct, once we save the island from Devimon, there would be no reason for us to remain here in the Digital World.” 

Everyone smiled joyously at that news. The prospect of going home after almost a month-long stay in the Digital World warmed their hearts and gave them new hope. Soon they would be back with their families in no time, and this little misadventure would be over. 

“I hate to throw cold water on this theory,” Gennai sadly interrupted. “But I’m not sure that Devimon is the evil of all evils. He could be just one cog in the machine. That means there could be more evil Digimon that are stronger than him that must be defeated.” 

“Aw!” the kids all groaned in disappointment. 

“Thanks for getting our hopes up, Izzy!” Mimi snapped at the boy. “Now we’re going to be stuck here even longer!” 

“Don’t despair, Mimi,” said Sora. “We’ll find a way.” 

“So with that in mind, an old friend should be here momentarily to take you all back to File Island,” said Gennai, again looking at his imaginary watch. 

The sound of giant footsteps against the ground caught the children’s ears. Looking to their left, they smiled once they saw a familiar face. 

“It’s Leomon!” Tai cried. 

The lion smiled in greeting as he made his way to stand beside Gennai. 

“Hello, Destined Jedi,” he said. “It’s been a while. I hope you all are ready for your clash with Devimon because our survival depends on you.” 

“As if we didn’t need more pressure than necessary,” Joe groaned, feeling like he was being trolled with all the reminders of their impending duel with Devimon. 

“Joe, shut up,” Matt snapped before turning to Tai. “This time, we will take on Devimon together, Tai.” 

“I was about to say that, Matt,” Tai chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck while everyone else laughed. 

“Good luck, and may the Force be with you,” Gennai said with a bow, which the children copied. 

“Well, no time to waste,” said Leomon as they followed him away from the forest and towards their destiny. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few short hours later, the group sailed on a small boat that Leomon had used to transport himself over to Server. Except for Joe, who still had not gotten over his seasickness, everyone calmly meditated to prepare themselves for the impending battle that they knew was coming. 

The bespectacled boy retched loudly over the side of the boat, spilling out the contents of his stomach directly into the sea as the queasy feeling he felt the whole boat trip tightened its grip on his nervous system. Matt patted him on the back to try and calm him, but it was clearly in vain. 

“What’s happened since we’ve been away, Leomon?” Sora asked, hoping to get an idea of what they were walking into. 

“Nothing,” the lion replied. “All’s been quiet. Too quiet, if you ask me. I believe that Devimon has been biding his time, waiting for you lot to come back to File Island and face him. Once that happens, our fate is at stake.” 

Joe then threw up again. Everyone grimaced with disgust as he expelled the rest of his stomach matter before hocking up mucus to spit out. He turned to face everyone, his face a sick shade of green and groans escaping his lips. 

“Ok, I think you’ve thrown up all you can throw up now, Joe,” said Matt, placing a hand on the older boy’s forehead and rubbing it softly. “You’ll be okay.” 

“Thanks, Matt,” he said softly. 

“All right, this creep Devimon better watch out!” Tai cried, standing at the edge of the mast. “Because the Destined Jedi are on their way to destroy you!” 

“Calm down, Mr. King of the World,” Sora snickered, noticing the way he stood on the mast. 

Everyone else laughed as well while the brown-haired boy glared at his best friend. She gave him a teasing smirk in retaliation, which only served to make him more angry. 

Four hours later, the sun began to set. The sky turned a dark pink, which the kids found both odd, and fascinating at the same time. It wasn’t much longer before the familiar shape of Infinity Mountain appeared on the horizon, and with it the deep chill that sent a shiver down the children’s spines due to sensing Devimon’s presence. 

“Well, here we go, gang,” said Leomon, paddling faster so that they could reach File Island by nightfall. 

“May the Force be with us,” muttered Tai as he watched the island get closer and closer. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Night fell by the time the little boat reached the shore of the island. If they weren’t so worried about the task at hand, then the kids would have stopped to admire the stars and how they twinkled in the sky. None of that mattered at the moment because they had a job to do, no matter how daunting it seemed. 

Tai could feel the nervous energy radiating off of his friends. If they failed, not only would they be finished, but the Digital World as well. They couldn’t let that happen. Many were counting on them to come through. 

As they climbed up the mountain path just above the forest, Leomon gave them information that he knew would be useful when battling Devimon. 

“Now, Devimon is a lot more powerful than you kids think,” he said. “He has all sorts of dark powers at his disposal that he can use to destroy you. He will stop at nothing until you are all destroyed, so don’t think he’ll be an easy opponent.” 

“Don’t worry,” Matt replied, glancing at the scar across his shoulder from their last duel with Devimon. “We learned that the hard way last time.” 

“That creep isn’t going to know what hit him now that we’re fully trained,” Tai said confidently, closing his hand into a fist of determination. 

“Your overconfidence will be your downfall, Tai,” Leomon frowned, bringing the boy back down to earth. “Learn to control it. Let’s keep moving.” 

The sound of thunder cracked through the air loudly like an echoing drum. Everyone looked up at the sky, but saw no trace of storm clouds in the area. The sound came again, this time the group traced it to the top of Infinity Mountain. From the top of the Parthenon replica, a giant head began to emerge. 

Mimi screamed at the sight of it, while everyone else stood frozen in shock. Devimon emerged from the temple, but this time he was the size of a mountain. Once he saw the group of children, he smirked before launching himself from the temple to the bottom of the mountain. 

“I knew you would come back,” he sneered as his feet made contact with the ground, sending a rumble through the entire island. He then activated his new lightsaber, the bright red blade piercing the night sky with a hiss. “And this time, I am going to do what I should have done the first time: kill the lot of you and end the prophecy.” 

Leomon and the children wasted no time activating their lightsabers. Devimon merely sneered at them. 

“Just because you’re fully trained now, that does not mean you will defeat me. I am Devimon, supreme leader of File Island, and no snotty group of kids is going to ruin my plans.” 

“We’ll just have to see about that!” Tai retorted, his body shaking in anticipation of some action. Though his words sounded tough, he was frightened. He tried to keep his fear in control just like Gennai had taught him. 

For several tense-filled moments, the group of children stared eye-to-eye with the gigantic Digimon, waiting for the first move to be initiated. The wind blew across the path ominously, as if knowing the implications of the duel upon the slopes of Infinity Mountain were a matter of life and death. 

Tai and Matt were the first to leap forward, catching Devimon off guard with swift attacks that took him to the limit of his reflexes to block the attacks. The two of them weaved and dived as they struck hard. 

Devimon was kept on the defensive as he blocked attack after attack. These children had gotten stronger indeed; he could feel it radiating off of them like a foul odor. He parried a flying strike from Tai, which sent the boy back to the ground, but Matt continued pressing in his stead, not allowing Devimon a moment to rest. 

‘They’ve learned the power of working together,’ he thought, gritting his teeth. ‘I did not sense this last time.’ 

Seeing that they had him off balance, Matt bent down to all fours. Knowing what he had in mind, Tai got a running start before propelling himself off of Matt’s back and into the air. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he moved his feet forward and dive kicked Devimon in the chest, sending the Digimon stumbling backwards until he fell on his back. The ground shook as he made contact with it. 

Everyone cheered as Tai and Matt high-fived each other, thinking that they had gotten Devimon. 

“Nice one there,” Tai smiled, which Matt returned. 

“Thanks. That was good thinking on your part too.” 

A long shadow then cast itself over them, spoiling their momentary celebration. They looked up to see the cackling face of Devimon. 

“That attack was clever,” he said mockingly. “But it barely even tickled me. Hopefully you’re tickled by this.” 

From his fingertips, long spouts of Force lightning emerged, heading towards the two boys. They immediately raised their lightsabers defensively, holding off the Force lightning for as long as they could. Little jolts of lightning would deflect off their sabers and catch them on their arms. 

“I can’t hold on any longer!” Tai cried, feeling the force of the lightning grow even more powerful against his saber. 

“Tai, stay strong!” Matt cried, straining against the power of it as well. 

Behind the action, Joe immediately sprang into action to help protect his friends. The memory of not being able to help Sora against Ogremon just yesterday reigned heavily on his mind, so he was going to do something this time. 

“Izzy, come on!” he urged as the two ran towards their friends. 

Matt and Tai flew past the two of them as Force lightning engulfed them after they couldn’t force it back anymore. They landed on the back of the cliff with a thud, injuring the two of them as they hit the ground. 

“Joe, keep him busy,” said Izzy, who already had the gears turning in his head. “I’ve got an idea.” 

“Don’t leave me alone with him!” Joe complained as he barely dodged a lightsaber swipe from Devimon. The two parried attacks from the other before locking sabers. 

“Ah, yes, you’re the one I slashed on the leg,” Devimon taunted, recognizing Joe after a moment. “Tell me, how did it feel when I did that?” 

Joe gritted his teeth and swept the saber away with a jerk of his hand. His saber spun in all directions as he blocked Devimon’s attacks that came in a flash of blue light against red. Soon, his wrist began to hurt from all the quick defenses that Soresu preached. 

‘Izzy, where are you?’ he thought as his saber locked with Devimon’s once again. 

The Digimon tried to overpower him by using his strength to push Joe back, but the boy gritted his teeth and gave a determined cry as he pushed right back. They then broke apart after realizing it would be a stalemate. 

“Hey, Devimon!” 

The two turned to see Izzy standing on the path above the one the whole group was standing on. He then jumped off of the ledge with a running start, somersaulting in mid-air, and then landed on Devimon’s shoulder. 

Izzy then started going to work by hacking away, scratching the vampire’s shoulder and trapezius severely. While he was distracted, Joe landed a strike on Devimon’s legs, which only made him more angry as he cried out in pain. 

As Izzy tried to move to his other shoulder, Devimon caught him with a Force hold that kept the boy suspended in mid air while using his other hand to push Joe away with the Force. 

“You thought you could destroy me by a thousand cuts?” Devimon snarled at Izzy. “Well, you’ll have to do better than that.” 

With one gesture of his hand, he sent Izzy flying straight into Joe. The two boys groaned once Izzy collided with him and landed on his stomach, knocking the wind out of Joe. 

Leomon growled silently, feeling compelled to step in and join the action before one of the children ended up being killed or seriously injured. 

“You’re mine now!” he roared as he leapt towards Devimon, his green lightsaber hanging over his head in preparation to attack. 

What Leomon did not anticipate was Ogremon jumping out from Devimon’s back like the xenomorph’s inner jaw. He was so surprised by it that he couldn’t raise his saber in time to block the attack, sending him flying past the trees and deep into the forest. 

“So much for the overgrown kitty cat,” Ogremon cackled before retreating back into Devimon’s body. 

In the meantime, Sora and Mimi were engaged with Devimon in battle. Mimi did her best, but she was easily disposed of as Devimon threw her right into Izzy and Joe. Sora tried overpowering him with a series of swift attacks from different angles to throw him off balance. It didn’t work as he used the Force to send her colliding with Tai and Matt, who had recovered from the Force lightning assault and were looking to jump back into the fight. 

Devimon then set his sights directly on TK, just like the last time. The young boy looked on nervously as the giant Digimon made its way towards him, holding up his lightsaber in a defensive stance to show Devimon he was going to protect himself. 

“There’s nowhere left to run now, my little friend,” he hissed. “There’s no one to protect you. They say the smallest will destroy me. Well, I’m not going to let that happen.” 

“TK!” Matt cried as he and the others tried to distract Devimon by engaging him all at once. 

Devimon was annoyed by this little attempt at distracting him and used the Force to create an energy field around him that pushed the group of children back into the cliff wall. His attention returned to TK. 

“It’s over now for you,” he said, reaching his hand out to grab the boy. “Be a good little boy and maybe it won’t hurt as bad.” 

Tears streamed down TK’s face as the hand got closer and closer to him. He felt that this was the end for him, no matter what he could do. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. 

But then Patamon’s words echoed in his mind. 

“Remember that even the smallest person can change the course of events, TK. No matter how much you’re afraid, or how much things seem bleak, always have hope that things will turn out all right.” 

‘He’s right. I can’t sit around and wait to be destroyed. If I am, then he’ll simply destroy the others.’ 

Steeling himself to be brave, TK’s face morphed into one of determination. He then held his lightsaber like a baseball player stepping up to bat and swiped with a strike from the left side. 

Devimon roared in pain as his hand fell from his arm to the ground with a thud. The other kids looked up in shock to see that TK had cut off Devimon’s hand, not expecting that to happen at all. 

“You’ll pay for that, you little pipsqueak!” the Digimon roared as he brought his lightsaber hand down onto the boy, who blocked it before parrying his lightsaber to the side. 

Seeing his opportunity, TK leaped from the ground towards him. Everything passed in slow motion as Ogremon tried to stop the boy with a well-timed strike. Just like with Devimon, TK simply knocked his saber away and kicked the ogre in the chest before running along the thing that connected Ogremon to Devimon. With a roar of determination, he plunged his lightsaber deep into Devimon’s chest. 

‘I did it,’ he realized, a smile beginning to grow on his young face as he leaped down to the ground below. ‘I did it for real this time.’ 

That same thought ran through the minds of the other kids as they looked on in shock at what had just happened. 

Even though he had been run through the chest, Devimon cackled loudly as his entire body began to disappear in little particles. 

“You fools. You may have defeated me, but I am just merely a pawn in this little game. There are bigger and badder Digimon just waiting around the corner, like my master. Just you wait, you will not have it so easy with him. Master Myotismon will mop the floor with you! But until then, you will have to find your way back to each other first.” 

Using his remaining hand, dark energy began to pool within it. He then threw the ball of energy outward, which opened to reveal a portal that started to suck everything in. The winds were so powerful that the kids immediately grabbed onto something to keep themselves from being sucked in. 

Devimon’s evil laughter echoed throughout the mountainside as he finally disappeared into nothingness. 

“Hold on, guys!” Tai cried as they held on to boulders and tree branches to try and ride out the portal’s powerful energy. The gusting winds tossed his hair in all directions, looking more like a hurricane wind flag than a part of his body. 

A scream rang out as Sora couldn’t hold on to the base of a tree any longer. She skidded across the ground towards the black hole. 

“Tai, help!” she cried. 

Tai let go of the branch without hesitation and grabbed her hand before she could get any closer, pulling her back in as much as he could against the powerful winds. 

“I’ve got you,” he assured her. “Just hang on!” 

Once she got close enough to grab onto a low-hanging branch, Tai couldn’t keep his balance and was then pulled in. 

“Guys, help!” he cried as he fell into the black hole. 

It closed once he disappeared. The winds stopped, which everyone was thankful for, but that didn’t take away from what had just happened. 

“Tai!” they all cried, stunned at the loss of their friend and leader. 

“Where did he go?” TK asked. 

Sora stood in stunned silence. Tai had saved her from going in by letting himself be taken instead. It was the bravest thing she had ever seen him do for her. Her heart ached with an emptiness that had just formed seeing the spot where her best friend had disappeared. The desperate look in his eyes was permanently tattooed on her brain. 

‘Why did you have to sacrifice yourself, you baka?’ she thought as tears began to run down her face. 

“Come back!” she cried as she fell to her knees and sobbed.


End file.
